when you wish upon a star.

Last week City Year was given 100 tickets to 2 Bucks games, one on Monday and one on Wednesday. The game on Wednesday was against the Miami Heat. Now, if there's one thing you must know about inner city kids, most of them like to play basketball.. and chances are, their favorite player is LeBron James (who plays for the Heat). If you're not familiar with LeBron, he is a spectacular basketball player, 6 feet 8 inches, who was drafted straight out of high school. He is an idol and role model to countless inner city children because he himself had a tough childhood growing up in the inner city.

The students at my school talk about basketball a lot, and one of my students in particular, whom I will call Paul, has a love for basketball (and football too) that stands out above my other students. He has often talked about getting drafted out of high school just like LeBron, and his dream is to play in the NFL or NBA. When it was announced that I could get tickets to the Heat game, I was excited for the chance to be able to see LeBron play for myself. Then I thought about how cool it would be if Paul would be able to go too.

I talked to his mom, and she arranged for him to meet me there with a family member of his. Paul isn't one for too many words or emotion, but I could tell that he was especially excited to be at this game. He said to me multiple times that he has never seen LeBron play in person and that LeBron is his favorite player. He also kept telling me about the players on both the Bucks and the Heat, and I think he just enjoyed being able to teach me something. I must say, I was pretty impressed with his knowledge, and I could really see his passion for basketball. The Heat were ahead by about 30 points at one point, and every time LeBron, who ended the game with over 40 points, would score or make a great play like a slam dunk, Paul would smile so big, shrug his shoulders, and say "See? He's the best." =] The Bucks ended up making a huge comeback in the 4th quarter and beat the Heat. Paul was understandably mad about the Heat losing, but I think he still had a good time seeing his role model play live, and I think he will always remember it.

I think seeing him outside of school also showed him that I care about his interests as well as his education, and the next day I could tell a difference in how he responded to me. He seemed to take his work a little more seriously and didn't need a lot of prompting from me to stay focused like he sometimes does. Who knows if he will make it big in professional sports, and I have been telling him that his education needs to come first even if he does want to play professional sports, but hopefully this experience gives him some motivation to make his dreams come true!