When the going gets tough, get going

Inspirational words of wisdom you're welcome

A strange encounter can go a long way

Humans of New York is probably one of the most famous blogs out there. With over 8 million followers, it started with a man named Brandon Stanton, who decided to go around New York and take pictures of 10,000 New Yorkers. Eventually, he was able to collect small quotes from his subjects, that have led to deeply moving personal stories and inspirational pieces of advice.

Last week however, Brandon Stanton came across a young boy in Brownsville, Brooklyn, who changed the reputation of his school and his life. Take a look:

This boy, Vidal, was a student who currently attends Mott Hall Bridges academy. After the photo received so much attention, Stanton decided to visit and interview Ms. Lopez himself.

“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.”

He learned a lot about the school and how it worked. Mott Hall Bridges was a school in Brownsville, Brooklyn, known to be one of the toughest neighborhoods in Brooklyn. With most people living in housing developments and crime rates in the area high, most students over there weren't expected to make it far by others in that area. However Lopez thought differently. She believed that each student should work to aim high and know that they matter, so she wanted to take her students on a trip to visit Harvard. They decided to create an indiegogo fund to raise 100,000 dollars for the cause. Forty-five minutes after the fundraiser was launched, they met their goal. What started out at 100,000 let to 350,000, to 700,000, and currently 1.1 million dollars that are all going to Mott Hall Bridges Academy. They decided that after they reached 350,000 dollars, the rest would go to a summer camp, so that the kids are still occupied with positive things during the most vulnerable, dangerous time of the year. Then, once they got to 700,000 dollars, they decided the rest of that would go to scholarships for the most hardworking of the kids for college--and the first student to get the scholarship would be Vidal, the boy who started it all. 

If you are interested in contributing to a great cause, you can donate for Mott Hall Bridges here