Two Minutes

Life in Philadelphia is nothing at all what I pictured it would be. I graduated from college this past May from a small school in Indiana. I thought when I left the college dorms that I would be moving on up to the easy life. Oh how I was wrong.
I live with 5 other City Year Corps Members in a house in West Philadelphia. Every morning we all have to be out of the house by 8:00 a.m. to be at our schools by 8:30 a.m. I have to wake up by 6:43 a.m. to be able to take a hot shower. I used to think that there wasn’t much difference between 6:43 a.m. and 6:45 a.m. But I was dead wrong. Those minutes mean everything to me. Those two minutes mean the difference between a hot and cold shower. Those two minutes means milk with my cereal or no milk with my cereal. Those two minutes means being on time or being late for my day of service
Those two minutes are even more important at school than they are at home. Those two minutes mean a conversation with a student about their plans after high school. Those two minutes mean an extra smile to a teacher who's having a hard day. Those two minutes mean a student finishes his assignment because I stayed with him.
In college if you would have told me that two minutes would have meant so much to me or the people that I run into everyday I would have thought you were wrong. It takes longer than two minutes to change the world. But after my months at City Year I would say that’s all it takes. Two minutes to give a smile to someone to show that they aren’t alone in this world. Two minutes to sit with a student as they finish an assignment that means they pass or don’t pass a class. Two minutes to show a student that you care about their future. Two minutes changes lives.

Susan, 22, corps member, Comcast Team serving at University City High School