Student Spotlight: Jayden

This month we are thrilled to feature Jayden’s work from our Bronx Letters poetry class led by our Teaching Artist, Tracia Banuelos. Jayden goes to school in a congressional district that repeated ranks lowest in the entire country for median household income, but that environment of scarcity does not stop him from dreaming big. One of Jayden’s goals is to write and publish an entire book's worth of poems! Jayden has expressed anxiety about his poor attendance in the past, and the negative impact it has had on his academic performance. But this year, Jayden’s first-period class is BAE poetry, and gives him the motivation to come to school on time every day. We are so proud of Jayden - and hope you’ll love his poetry just as much as we do!


The Eternal Embers of Destiny
By Jayden

Destiny is not an inescapable fate.
I see it as a goal to work towards.
Nothing in life is predetermined,
Because we're given the power of choice
We are all puppets who can
Pull their own strings.

Many people live in delusion, blaming the world around them
For every mistake, mishap, fault, and regret.
But I know that everyone makes their own decisions
Every choice is made with intent. No matter the outside factors, there
Tare always choices. Nobody has anyone to blame for actions but themselves.

The richest rich made decisions that brought them to that point.
Even being born into power, you make decisions to keep it.
The poorest poor will always have at least one open window.
Some of history's greatest souls started out without a cent to their name.

From the highest point and the lowest point, the choices you make are yours alone
Everyone's destiny is forged by their own hands.
Just as blacksmith uses tools to forge a blade,
Our choices are the tools we use to shape destiny.
Tools can be taken, choice cannot be.
Built by opportunity, supported by motivation
everyone's destiny is a personal inferno,

And our hopes and dreams are the eternal embers.