#GirlTape

If I told you that getting to travel with high school students to a new place with the intention to learn, grow, and experience alongside each other is my absolute dream job, you probably wouldn't believe me. But it is. This is my second summer as a chaperone with the Ivy League Connection and having spent the weekend in the city of Nashville with four of the most incredible young women to exist, I can assure you that I, as an educator, am living a dream.

I am grateful to have been instilled with a love for learning and for travel at a young age. By the time I was 11, I had already had the privilege of driving across the country, from New York to California, with my family seven times. Learning has always coincided with that wanderlust for me - reading, writing, talking, discussing along the way. I have seen this same harmony between journeying and discovering through the eyes of my cohort as we made our way from California to Tennessee last Thursday and in the days we have spent together - exploring, blogging, laughing - before move-in day.

Ana Touriel is unwaveringly kind, responsible, gentle and strong. She - unlike any other teenager I have met in my years of knowing them and being one - doesn't use social media. She talks about books like they give her oxygen, she listens fully and asks questions beyond her years, and she doesn't seem to have a negative bone in her body. Sending Ana off to begin her novel writing course at Vanderbilt today, I could feel that this is just the first step in a lifelong of opportunities that will allow Ana to move mountains with her poetic spirit and writer's voice.

Anna Chang is similarly observant, wise, loyal, and fiercely intelligent. Anna kept us all in check throughout our travels together. She is always looking out for me while navigating the city, making sure the others wake up on time, always the first to arrive, the first to post her blogs, and the first to check her AP scores. She brings so much light to every conversation through her caring questions, engaging tone of voice, full heart, and wealth of own experiences and ideas. As I said my goodbyes to each of the girls in their dorms today, Anna had already made her bed and was halfway unpacked ready for this next, great adventure, assuring me she would keep me updated over the next few weeks.

Hawi Abraham is thoughtful, absolutely hilarious, fierce, and caring. Most adults we interacted with over the weekend commented on how Hawi doesn't miss a beat. She sees everything, notices everything, comments on everything. She sees into people and her environment without judgment but instead with understanding. One of my favorite moments of the entire weekend together was arriving at Vanderbilt today only to see Hawi greeting every single person that came after us in line for check-in. She introduced herself and asked questions of all of them, making them feel comfortable as if it was her purpose in life, while extending the same courage to our whole ILC Nashville family.

Audrey Dowling is passionate, enthusiastic, protective, and warm. Even at 2 AM when we met outside ECHS last Thursday, she was smiling. She is our country music hero, our Taylor Swift trivia queen, our longest standing vegetarian of the group (there are three of us!), and our dessert navigator. Audrey has so much heart and love for so much that is going on in this world and has the optimism that I often find hard to keep sight of in our fractured, divided country and time. It is beautiful to witness and I know that she will bring every ounce of it to her VSA course over the next few weeks and beyond.

I feel compelled to tell those of you reading this little corner of the Internet about the character of these young women because as an educator of mostly young men in my Engineering Academy, I don't always have the chance to teach so many driven, determined, confident young women. But more so, I want you to know that these students defy every stereotype that is placed on young women, teenagers, and students in our school district. They are so unfailingly kind to one another, they champion each other, support each other, encourage each other. In our four days straight together, I only ever saw true kindness between them and conversations that ranged everywhere from saving the planet to our education system to misheard country music lyrics to Elvis Presley's untimely death to channeling our inner Rihanna.

I look forward to hearing about every magical, life-changing moment and experience they share over the next three weeks. I am grateful for the opportunity to have explored this city alongside them before I continue to find learning moments to bring back to my own classroom. I am overjoyed by the fast friendships we all made and for the example they are setting for young women. I am humbled by the kindness they express in all that they do and ecstatic for all of the people they will meet at Vanderbilt who will be as glad to have met them as I am.

Nash Fam