Personal Thoughts About Joining the Piney Branch Action Team

Joining the Action Team has been, for me personally, a surprisingly powerful experience. I strongly believe in making the world a better place, but I'm also an introvert, and trained as a scientist/computer programmer, so I gravitate to work that is solitary, and hope that others will be able to use what I produce in a good way. How to create change in a community setting, with all of the competing interests that implies, has always been a discouraging mystery to me.

The most important part of this experience for me was the retreat. To be honest, when I came to the retreat I was rather cautious, feeling that I wouldn't have anything to talk about for two days. The early conversations made me feel even more isolated, as it became clear that the group as a whole had a strong religious / spiritual foundation which I did not share. However, several of the sharing and trust building exercises helped me see the human experiences I had in common with people, and in the end I talked about non-belief with the entire group and found that it was not a barrier. This was a first for me, because in the I've never shared my atheism with a large group -- and usually I've only joined groups where non-belief is assumed (as in many scientific circles). It was also (literally) a frightening moment for me, as I'd slowly come to the conclusion that I actually wanted to be accepted by the group.

Often, living in Montgomery County, I feel like I'm walking back and forth on a daily basis between two different counties -- one very diverse community at Montgomery College and on the metrobus and at Action Team meetings, and a different and less diverse community at Girl Scouts and carpools and play dates and doctors' offices. Takoma Park is filled with people of good will, but good will without actual exposure and activity doesn't get you very far. It would be amazing to see the kinds of trust-building experiences we went through repeated on a smaller scale in, for example, the PTA, or among parents within homerooms.

I also feel that my ties to the school itself have been strengthened. Ten years ago, I pulled my two older children out of this same school after meeting with teachers and counselors, and I continued homeschooling them through graduation. I decided to try the school again with my daughter (now in third grade) but I was skeptical. When I found out about the Action Team, I decided to join partly to try to avert another meltdown. Hearing so much about the school and its efforts has certainly allayed many of my concerns, and knowing that the school administration is open to changes and improvements has been *hugely* important in helping me be more comfortable.

So, thank you everyone who has made this possible and participated along the way. Can't wait to see how the rest of the year goes...

Sharing With the Community

On Thursday, January 7th Tebabu Assefa and Ken Allen spoke to members of the Piney Branch Elementary School PTA about their experiences as members of the Action Team. IMPACT staffer Lanita Whitehurst was on-hand to give background on both the organization and the program. Also there, lending moral support, were Action Team members Rachna Rikhye and Bertram Generlette.

This forum was a great opportunity to share with others what is happening with the Action Team. It was also a time to begin spreading the work and experiences to the larger school community. Action Team members extended an invitation to sign-up to be a part of the spring Action projects. That work will be kicking-off soon with even more members of the PBES community participating!

Thanks to PBES PTA co-presidents Ally Zevin and Adrienne Tilton for the opportunity to be a part of the meeting.

Check out this clip to hear Tebabu and Ken.