14 Mar Olga: Rebel with a Cause

The screams and loud rants were an ominous introduction to the new student.  I arrived at the Guidance Department to meet the shrill Olga, a 15-year old from Russia and her attractive and embarrassed mother.  Her vocabulary in English was limited but there was no misinterpreting how Olga felt about being enrolled in school, being in the US, being with her mother.  She would continue to fight her displacement for the entire school year. She felt superior to many of her classmates who came from disadvantaged countries with limited educational opportunities; she had been a student in a rigorous school environment and came to the states because her mother had married a ticket out of her own personally limited future in Russia.  At least, that’s how Olga explained it in raw and piercing tones.

Olga was bright and participated in class discussions in a nonchalant and caustic manner when she felt she could add bits of academia that the rest of the class would not know.  That is, she participated when she felt like it. At the start in September and October, her grades were good but as the year progressed her absences and lack of make-up work took a toll on the good grades.  Her physical appearance also took a turn to the dark side, as she accepted the Goth-look, along with a chronic appearance of fatigue and weariness. As her hair got darker, circles under her eyes became more pronounced, and her participation morphed into just wanting to sleep in class.

Before long my suspicions were unhappily confirmed as she started to confide in me.  The better word would be “alarm” me. Seemingly in confidence, she relished telling about all the drugs and drug users in the school, the distribution points outside of school, the site of the drag races and the meeting points and parties for the druggies.  I passed on the information to security at our school but by the time the proper authorities looked into it, Olga had dropped out.

The next year she re-earthed at a neighboring high school but before the proper help machine could find her for support and assistance, she was arrested for distributing drugs.  It must have been a serious amount of more than the usual recreational drugs because she was sent to the state penitentiary for a number of years.

Entering the penal institution that would be her new home, she left the high drama and risky behavior behind. She became a prisoner with a changed heart and decided to course her future differently.  She quickly earned her GED and started taking several college courses. She was a model prisoner and student. The warden and others worked to have her time reduced. Once out of school, Olga decided to go to college and believed that based on her background, diversity, redeemed nature, proven academic record and test scores, she would be successful in gaining admission to college.  Additionally, she believed that her essays, as a requirement to enter college, would seal the deal. Other aspiring students rarely could match for content the world experiences she related in the application package. She received admission and scholarship assistance to attend Boston University.

Her concentration: Criminal Justice.  Olga will bring not just mental acumen and experience in the field to her career, I believe her specialty will be as a formidable interrogator.  Having been on the other side of the desk from her, I do not envy being the focus of her questioning.  In the end, Olga has passed into a new beginning. She has made peace with being a student in American schools, with living in the U.S., and with understanding the mother who brought her here.