The difference one hour makes

I was fortunate to grow up in a loving and nurturing home, with parents that taught me everything I needed to know to prep me for life. I graduated high school, served in the military and completed my B.Sc and M.B.A while working in the IT industry.

Unfortunately, not every child has the privilege of growing up in a similar environment; Many children live under significantly adverse conditions, such as; abuse, violence, drugs or “just” parental negligence. The stories vary, however these conditions typically carve a very different path for these children, who grow up and are later marked by the education system as “troubled” adolescents. Lacking the proper tools and resources to help these adolescents, the education system will have no choice but to kick them out. Without any support system, not from home nor from the education system, the future of these adolescents is bleak.

I thought these stories happen somewhere else. It couldn’t possibly happen in my neighborhood. I was naive and very, very wrong.

Upon graduating with my masters degree, I realized I was about to have a significant amount of free time. Whilst I could easily see myself wasting these precious hours consumed with more work and binging on yet another TV series, I made a decision to volunteer at a non-profit organization.

This non-profit, Bridge For The Youth, (aka “Bridge”) finds these so-called “troubled” teenagers on the verge of dropping out of school and offers them an alternative future. Everyday, immediately after school, they attend a “Bridge” “cozy home”, where they receive a hot meal, tutoring, empowerment, social skills, workshops and most importantly - attention.

I had my concerns. What do I know about tutoring, or teenagers? But, I was adamant to give it a try and as an engineer, I thought math would be a safe place to start. I can vividly remember the moment that got me “hooked”. I met Guy on my second tutoring session. Guy was in the tenth grade at the time, he had shiny brown eyes and dark hair. He was much more eager to learn about me than learn how to solve math problems. He assumed I was a private tutor paid to teach him. Realizing that I can’t force him to learn, I took the time to answer him. I explained that I was actually a systems engineer, that I work with enterprise customers, what does it mean “Enterprise customers” and the kind of projects I work on.

Guy gave me a confused look and asked “Are you telling me that you took a break from all your clients and all your important projects to simply spend an hour tutoring me..?”.

We didn’t spend much time solving algebra equations that afternoon and instead of me tutoring Guy, it was me that learned a lesson that day. Guy, as most of the children at “Bridge”, was not used to people investing time in him, listening to him, wishing for his success. I learned that I was there to listen to them, to talk to them and most importantly to believe in them and if I managed to get them to solve some math equations, that was just the icing on the cake.

There are 168 hours a week. Three and a half years ago I decided to invest one of those hours with those less fortunate. I’ve been investing that weekly hour ever since. After three rounds of high school graduations I am quite confident I will continue to nurture this investment.

As a bonus, since I joined Cisco, the Cisco foundation has been donating 10$ for every hour I volunteer. Cisco’s donation is used to ensure the children get their hot meal, clothes and necessary school materials.

Visiting Cisco’s offices, the children were exposed to technology and possibilities they had no idea exist. Some of them now have one more reason to graduate high school.

Last year Guy graduated, he is now in the army, with a completely different life trajectory. I am proud to have contributed, even slightly in this small miracle.

#WeAreCisco #GiveBack #STEM #CiscoSE