President Obama Meets Vidal: Humans Of New York Goes To The White House
The events unfolding from an inspirational photograph that Humans of New York posted of a 12-year-old boy in Brownsville, Brooklyn have gotten even more uplifting. That young student, Vidal Chastanet, along with his principal Nadia Lopez and HONY documentarian Brandon Stanton met President Obama recently.
Stanton was visiting the neighborhood last month when he met Vidal. Stanton asked him, "Who's influenced you the most in your life?" and Vidal replied that it was Principal Lopez at his school, Mott Hall Bridges Academy, "When we get in trouble, she doesn't suspend us. She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter."
That photograph now has over 1 million likes on Facebook. When Stanton met Lopez, she told him, "This is a neighborhood that doesn’t necessarily expect much from our children, so at Mott Hall Bridges Academy we set our expectations very high. We don’t call the children ‘students,’ we call them ‘scholars.’ Our color is purple. Our scholars wear purple and so do our staff. Because purple is the color of royalty.
"I want my scholars to know that even if they live in a housing project, they are part of a royal lineage going back to great African kings and queens. They belong to a group of individuals who invented astronomy and math. And they belong to a group of individuals who have endured so much history and still overcome. When you tell people you’re from Brownsville, their face cringes up. But there are children here that need to know that they are expected to succeed."
Lopez and Stanton decided to harness the outpouring of support from HONY's 12 million followers by starting a fundraiser so incoming sixth graders can visit Harvard and know they can belong anywhere. And their dream of $100,000 to fund three years of the field trips has now resulted in over $1.2 million in donations (with five days left!) which will fund 10 years of Harvard field trips; 10 years of summer programs; and a scholarship program named in honor of Vidal, who will be the first recipient.
Yesterday, Stanton posted a photograph of President Barack Obama, Principal Lopez and Vidal sitting at the President's desk and wrote, "On January 19th, I met a young man on the street named Vidal, and I asked him to tell me about the person who had influenced him the most in his life. He told me about his principal, Ms. Lopez, and he explained how she had taught him that he mattered. Over the next two weeks, I learned the story of Ms. Lopez and her school, Mott Hall Bridges Academy. By hearing the stories of MHBA students and educators, my eyes were opened to the unique challenges facing a school in an under-served community. Ms. Lopez taught me that before a student is ready for academic training, they must be made to understand that they deserve success. And that can be the hardest battle in education. Ms. Lopez always said that there was no place her students did not belong. Recently we received an invitation that proved just that."
And he just posted this photograph of the President telling to Vidal, “You don’t do things alone. Nobody does things alone. Everybody always needs support. For a young man like you, you should never be too afraid or too shy to look for people who can encourage you or mentor you. There are a lot of people out there who want to provide advice and support to people who are trying to do the right thing. So you’ll have a lot of people helping you. Just always remember to be open to help. Never think that you know everything. And always be ready to listen.”
White House photographer Pete Souza shared his photograph of the President, Vidal and Stanton:
The trio recently met Ellen DeGeneres, who announced Target would be donating state-of-the-art electronics (computers, tablets, etc.) to all of the classrooms at Mott Bridges Hall Academy, plus other schools in the community. Lopez said that the "outpouring of individuals around the world spoke volumes...it's about those children."