Like many college students, I am not a morning person. My brain doesn’t usually function before 1 p.m., or at least until I’ve had some caffeine. During my time at Northwestern, though, there was one thing I consistently woke up early for: Books & Breakfast.
B&B is a before-school program in some Evanston/Skokie School District 65 elementary schools, and it’s committed to achieving educational equity in Evanston. Its tutors — both Evanston residents and NU students — provide emotional, academic and social support alongside breakfast for the kids in the organization.
I joined B&B during my first quarter at NU. Throughout my three years as a tutor, I went to Walker Elementary School a few times each week to read books, help out with homework assignments and play games with a small group of elementary students.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that most mornings, I rolled out of bed and ran out the door to get to Walker. B&B wasn’t always compatible with my late nights in The Daily’s newsroom or the long hours I spent studying at University Library. But when I struggled to get out of bed only a few hours after I’d just gotten in it, I remembered what B&B staff members would remind us of at our quarterly training sessions: the power of showing up.
B&B staff often told us that even when it doesn’t feel like we are making a difference, our presence alone is more than enough. The relationships we build with the students let them know that they have a community that cares about them and their academic success. NU tutors also give the kids a glimpse of what their future in higher education could look like when they may not have daily interactions with college students otherwise.
As I’ve navigated life at NU, I learned that this lesson applies to the tutors just as much as it does to the kids.
It might seem like college students and kids in elementary school have little in common, but I found that many of the issues we face are more similar than you would imagine. We like to put labels on challenges that we think of as uniquely adult, such as saying we’re “independent” when we struggle to ask for help, or that we have “imposter syndrome” when we have a hard time believing in ourselves and our abilities. But really, we’re all just big kids, navigating the world one day at a time. No matter how old we get, we still need support, encouragement and people who believe in us.
At B&B, I saw that simply being there could lift a kid’s mood before the school day or help them find the confidence to take on complicated math problems. I saw how important it is for every kid to see their loved ones in the literal and figurative audience for their big moments, whether it be a fifth grade graduation or a breakthrough in their reading comprehension skills.
Kids thrive when people consistently show up for them. College students do, too. So show up for the people you care about, in both their moments of joy and their rough patches of life.
Bring flowers to your roommate’s a capella concert. Throw a small party after your friend finally finishes the academic requirement that’s been the bane of their existence. Bake delicious cookies for your friend when they break their foot in the most ridiculous way possible. Pick up the phone when a fellow student reporter gets their schedule mixed up and is having a crisis over whether to skip class or go to that event they told their editor they would write about.
The people you show up for might not say thank you. You may sometimes feel like your efforts aren’t appreciated, or that they don’t matter. Show up anyway. It goes a long way to be there, much more than you know. And, if you can, it doesn’t hurt to bring some breakfast along with you.
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