Editor's Note: By giving donors complete creative control over gifts geared towards high-need K-12 students, The Generation Project hopes to facilitate personal connection between donors and the kids they are helping.  As part of that effort, we will be letting some of the students that we hope to affect to use this blog to write about their lives, their schools, and anything else they find interesting. Our hope is that, by posting kids' own words, we can give you, the donor, some insight into the interests and passions of the students you would be affecting with your gifts.  Unless the kids decide to post something really inapproprate, we're not going to censor or revise these posts at all--we want to really highlight the kids' own words.

Our first student blogger is very special to me, personally.  Ivan is a former 8th grade student of mine from my days as a social studies teacher at CIS 339 in the South Bronx.  We've stayed in touch since I left the classroom, and I can tell the blogosphere that he is an absolutely awesome kid.  He lives and breathes social studies and current events: he's the type of kid who would come up to me in the classroom and say (in his Bronx tough-kid accent) "Yo, Mr. Savit, you think Musharraf is doing enough to combat terrorists on the Northwest Frontier in Pakistan?" 

He's also, in many ways, the inspiration for The Generation Project.  When he was an 8th grader, he stumbled across a program that would have allowed him to go to Albany or Washington and hear lectures from politicians, Supreme Court justices, journalists, and other public figures.  He was ridiculously excited about it, it would have been a great experience for him.  Alas, the program cost several thousand dollars, and Ivan simply couldn't afford that.  I wished, then, that there was some website with ready-made, pre-funded gifts for students that might include opportunities touching on history, current events, and the like.  Ultimately, it was with Ivan in mind that I co-founded The Generation Project. Without further ado, here is Ivan, in his own words:

My name is Ivan Guzman. I'm 15 years old and I'm from the Bronx, New York. I'm really interested in politics and sports. I am a very liberal Democrat but I'm willing to listen to any conservative with a good argument. I am a big Yankees and Giants fan, and I absolutely hate the Cowboys, Eagles, Red Sox, and Mets. I'm currently a sophomore in high school, my favorite subjects are U.S. History (even though I'm not taking that this year), World History, English, and Chemistry is pretty fun. This is my first time blogging ever so I'm new to this. When I was first asked to blog on this website I was a little nervous but then thought it would be terrific idea to have somewhere that I could express my ideas (if Phil Mushnick gets to write the kind of things he writes, why shouldn't I be able to?). Some of the other things I'm interested in are: reading, sports talk radio, poetry, waiting for that 27th world championship, and now blogging for The Generation Project. Before I finish I have to thank my mentor from afar, Mr. Savit for giving me this great opportunity to blog for The Generation Project. I hope this is the first of many.

Stay tuned for Ivan's take on Obama tomorrow.

During the 2006-2007 school year, when Barack Obama was beginning his run for the presidency, I could feel a sense of excitment building in my 8th grade social studies class in the South Bronx. "Yo, Mr. Savit," kids would occaisionally ask during one of our frequent (and encouraged) digressions into current events, "You think we can really have a black president?"

"I don't know," I'd answer. "What do you think?" The ensuing conversation might encompass the following points:

1. "No. We're never going to have a black president because white people are too racist."
2. "I agree. He is going to get assassinated before he can even make a serious run for President."
3. "Yo, Mr. Savit, Anthony's looking at me funny! Make him stop!"
4. "She started it!"
5. "OK, OK, we'll stop."
6. "I like Hillary better anyway. Bill Clinton was good and besides, she's from New York."
7. "Bush is probably just going to steal another election anyway." (My students understood that the Constitution prevented Bush from running for another term, but had a vague suspicion that Bush was going to stay in power through some Machiavellian coup d'etat. Unfortunately, they didn't use the words "Machiavellian coup d'etat," although that would have been really cool).
8. "Seriously, he is going to get assissinated, yo."
9. "I dunno, maybe he can win Iowa."
10. "Mr. Savit, are there black people in Iowa? He ain't winning Iowa."

I should mention that I taught American history from slavery through the present--not exactly the most uplifting time in world history--so my kids' skepticism about America's better angels was probably somewhat justified, given the material I was bombarding them with every day. Still, I could feel their excitement building as they contemplated a President Obama. More...