Hey kids ... ask questions, take chances

By JoAnne Young

Our kids will return to school in a couple of weeks, and many of them will be hoping for a fresh start after a year and a half of academic and personal challenges. Things are better than a year ago for many, but challenges remain.

 

Frequently at the close of school, especially for those graduating, we offer words of wisdom for young people as they move on. I think it may be even more appropriate to offer some of those words as they return in this time, as they see the adults around them still in turmoil over vaccinations, mask mandates, politics, racial issues, and how to educate kids about controversial topics.

 

Before most of today’s K-12 students were born, 18 years ago, I interviewed three smart young women, all seniors, about a research project they did at Lincoln High. The topic?  What attracts teenage boys to the girls they pick. This week, I found one of them, Jenn Rutt, now a data expert with a PhD. working in applied research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

 

Her advice to students today: Be curious and inquisitive. When the three of them did their project in Jim Perry’s advanced psychology class they didn’t know yet they were interested in research. The project sparked and revealed that interest, at least for Jenn.

 

“That was our first toe in the water of researching something and exploring a concept and trying to figure out what made it tick,” she said. 

 

She believes a lot of young people are discouraged from asking questions, told to try to figure things out for themselves. 

 

“Don’t be afraid to ask questions,” she said. “Keep questioning everything. Otherwise, how are things going to change? How are you going to learn?”

 

That especially helps when the politics of the pandemic have been so divisive, for example. “How are you going to explore other ideas out there unless you ask questions?” 

 

Jenn also encouraged students to figure out a feasible pathway to pursue things they are interested in, inspired by or passionate about, knowing that they come from different backgrounds, with different privileges and barriers at play. 

 

“Make things happen when you can,” she said. 

 

She was a first-generation college student and didn’t have a lot of role models in the educational realm.

 

 Her path took her to two undergraduate colleges, then AmeriCorps VISTA, followed by a master’s degree through the School for International Training Graduate Institute, and a PhD. at UNL, where she worked and took advantage of tuition benefits.

 

“I didn’t have the easiest path, but I figured it out in a way that was feasible for me, because I was just passionate about it, interested, I wanted to learn more,” she said. 

 

As we all have learned in the past 18 months, strange and unexpected things can happen to affect your life and your learning. I have a friend at the Journal Star – reporter Chris Dunker -- who experienced a lot of those in his work and personal life. So I asked him for any wisdom he could pass on to students. 

 

“The first advice I would give any young person would be to stay young forever,” he said. “Barring a miracle of science, however, I would tell a younger version of me to wake up every day and strive to live in the moment, to appreciate the people in your life and to seize the opportunities and experiences that are out there.”

 

He was a sophomore in high school when 9/11 happened, and remembers watching the first tower fall live on television in – of all things – his second period U.S. history class. 

 

“We were all glued to these little TVs the rest of the day watching the planes knock those towers over again and again and again, feeling the world change in real-time.”

 

That afternoon, at cross country practice, he said, his coach tried to help the students make sense of what they had seen, even as he fumbled over the words.

 

“A lot of people died today, and I know it’s scary and sad,” Chris remembers him saying, “but we’re here, so all we can do today is get out there and run.”

 

At the time, it seemed insensitive, even offensive, Chris said. Hours earlier they had watched thousands of people die live on television, and this guy was telling them they should move forward like nothing had happened.  

 

“I suppose it took me until this last year, when we all underwent a series of traumatic events, once again experiencing so many of them in real time, to absorb what he was trying to say. Or, at least, to reconsider them with the benefits of time and perspective.

 

“As the world was coming apart at the seams in 2020, it became hard for me to enjoy the extra time I got to spend with my 3-year-old daughter who is growing up way too fast, or take full advantage of the quiet time with my wife before we became a family of 4, or even soak up the experiences of having a new baby.

 

“I was frustrated at the lack of progress we as a country and state were making against the coronavirus. I was terrified when I contracted it and my daughter started to get sick on the same day.” 

 

As he went about his job, he said, “I was enraged at being teargassed and tackled by law enforcement in my own city. I was devastated when I watched doctors and nurses remove a patient’s life support system.

 

“I got caught up in the tragedy of things and lost sight of what was in front of me.”

 

Then, at some point late last year, he remembered what his coach had told them as the world had changed dramatically 20 years ago. “We’re here, so all we can do today is get out there and run.”

 

“Maybe,” he said, “looking back on that moment at practice through the lens of who I had become and what I had experienced last year gave me a new understanding of what he was trying to say. Or maybe I had always understood, but just needed a real downer of a year to remember it.”

 

Either way, he said, “I’ve made a more concerted effort to do the things I have a passion for more often with the people I love and care about.” 

 

I couldn’t have said it better than these two rock stars, and this literal rock star James Valentine (Maroon 5 and Southeast Class of ’96), who graciously offered these words for a story in 2003:

 

“Take chances,” he said. 

 

People he’s seen accomplish things reached outside their limits, took on things they didn’t think they’d be able to pull off. Even if they failed, they learned. 

 

Practice, study, train and go all out, he said. 

 

“And, oh yeah, treat yourself right. Buy new socks often. There’s nothing that feels like new socks.” 

 

Good advice for us all.