A Lesson in Opportunity

Guest Blogger: Flori Kakuru, class of 2025

I watched a TEDed Talk about High School Stories by Casey Neistat. The video is about opportunities. This reminds me of my opportunity to go to Sunnydale Academy. I found out about Sunnydale when someone from the group New Change for Youth (NC4Y) came to my door and asked me if I would like to go to Sunnydale Academy. 

NC4Y is a Seventh-day Adventist group that helps refugees that need help in Kansas City, Kansas. I started attending NC4Y meetings three years ago because it helped me get close to God. It also helped me to be a leader in church. They helped me to work with children. I learned how to teach children how to behave in church and how to sing and dance to the songs.

Another opportunity I had from NC4Y was to get a job at Mission Adlante because I already had experience with kids so it was easy. At Mission Adlante I taught kids to dance, to draw, to listen to their parents, and I read little books to them. While I worked there, I would pick up trash in the neighborhood and I sold clothes to support people who needed cheaper clothes.

I had an opportunity to learn more about God and also to go to a school where the teachers actually cared about my grades. I learned more about God because we talk about God every day. The school is also the same religion as me. This made it easier for me to get close to God. My teachers let me know that if I needed help that I just needed to ask them for it and they would help me. At public school, the teachers did not care about my grades so that made me believe that I should not care about my grades.

The video by Casey Neistat was about opportunities that can change kids' futures. When opportunities happen you have to go for it because you never know what could happen. Because if I did not go for Sunnydale Academy, I would never know these people who care about me. Because I know these people care, I have a better relationship with Jesus and I care about my grades.