Rachel Maddow Visits with High School Students

From Julia Heaton:

I just witnessed an amazing event taking place in the high school library – a room full of teenagers being transformed into activists.  Rachel Maddow of MSNBC spent an hour with our students speaking about her life as a student, academic, community organizer, journalist, and activist.  Though she claims that she never tries to “inspire,” her talk was certainly inspirational — and relevant and funny and provocative and powerful.  Our students were so impressive, as always, giving Rachel their rapt attention and peppering her with insightful questions about her work and her opinions.  In turn, she offered advice that is so in line with LREI’s mission and values:  find a wrong in the world and fight tirelessly to make it right, work hard to achieve excellence, use your advantages and talents to serve a greater purpose, the importance of writing and reading and evidence.  Above all, she conveyed the message that a life of activism can be fulfilling, not to mention fun.

This event would not have been possible without the incredible organization and energy of our colleague Ileana Jimenez.  Ileana worked her magic to get Rachel in the door (even though Rachel says that she “doesn’t do speaking engagements”) and then facilitated the talk with expertise and grace of a professional.  Is there a spin-off show in Ileana’s future?

One student said to me as he left the room, “This literally changed my life.” I know I speak on behalf of many in attendance when I say that I couldn’t agree more.  I was very proud to be a part of LREI today.