Middle school students write dream books

By Floyd Jernigan

Nevada Daily Mail

A group of Nevada Middle School students are daring to dream.

What they want to be, what they want to do, and what they want to have in life -- those three focal points are the keys for a program begun by volunteer educator Mary Mitchell that has since spread to other nearby school systems in Bronaugh, Sheldon and Walker through the use of her curriculum.

Mitchell and her students gave a presentation and discussed their books during a recent meeting of the Vernon County Youth Task Force at the Franklin P. Norman City/County Community Center, in Nevada.

"I started working with a small group of high school girls about seven years ago and changed to middle school about five years ago," said Mitchell in a follow-up response to a query on the program.

"The idea stemmed from a concern I had about the youth I had encountered. It seemed as though they were very 'stuck' in a small way of thinking.

"Most were not excited about their future, and seemed very unmotivated to think about their dreams and goals.

"I developed the program in hopes of stirring some dreams for them and exposing them to places, people, and ideas outside of what they know just in our small towns.

"I wanted to give them the belief that they really can be, do or have anything they desire if they are willing to chase after it and work for it."

The program is a semester class that is taught in all four of the Vernon County schools.

Mitchell teaches the Nevada and Bronough classes. Jennifer Thomas teaches the NEVC class, and Jeanie Ireland teaches the Sheldon class. All are volunteers.

In her presentation at the VCYTF meeting, Mitchell noted that the program encourages students to talk about their dreams, as well as learn about things outside of our communities.

As part of the program, students make a book on these principles and use collages to illustrate their efforts.

"They are not allowed to limit themselves," said Mitchell. "We want them thinking outside of what they are used to."

Each student in attendance at the meeting gave a presentation on his or her book.

"I like doing the collage," said student Morgan Douglas. "It gives me a chance to express my creativity."

Douglas already said she has hopes of being a paleontologist or an Egyptologist.

"My favorite part is learning about inspirational people," said Brynn Wolfe. "I want to be a leader, not a follower."

Adi Wilson also touched on the inspirational people she learned about during the program, adding her goal was to hold the world record for arm wrestling and to "be a good person."

The students learned about Dr. Willie Jolley, who is a Hall of Fame speaker, an award-winning singer, a best-selling author and a national television and radio personality, according to his website, found at http://www.williejolley.com.

Last year, Dr. Jolley served as a guest speaker, not only for the Nevada School System, but he also spoke at Cottey College.

Mitchell and the students said they hoped to have Kyle Maynard as the program's next speaker.

According to his website, http://kyle-maynard.com, Maynard is a motivational speaker, author, entrepreneur and athlete. Despite being born with arms that end at the elbows and legs that end near the knees, he wrestled for one of the best teams in the Southeast, set records in weightlifting, fought in mixed martial arts, and most recently, became the first man to crawl on his own to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain on the continent of Africa.

His book "No Excuses" was a New York Times bestseller.

"Kyle Maynard's focus is to teach audiences that there are no worthy excuses," stated Mitchell in a handout to the Task Force.

"No matter how challenging your difficulties may seem, everyone has the ability to overcome."

Mitchell said she hopes Maynard can visit Nevada and do a presentation this next year, tentatively planned for April.

It will take about $15,000 to make that happen, said Mitchell.

"We have just started our fundraising efforts, so we don't have any official fundraisers set up yet. We are hoping to present the video (on the Dream Books program) and have students speak to local organizations."

Mitchell said she would appreciate the opportunity to make presentations to community and civic organizations.

"They can contact me to arrange for us to speak at their meeting."

Contact Mitchell via the Vernon County Youth Task Force by calling 417-667-4230.