Conclusion Episode

Sharif El-Mekki:

You are a freshman in college. You’re different than a lot of Black men that I entered education with. We had no idea we wanted to become a teacher. You are in the starting blocks saying,

“I want to impact youth in this way.”

“I want to change the community in this way through education.

So talk about why you chose to become an education major with already thinking about, I want to teach algebra.

Sharif Owens:

I feel like honestly, my biggest motivator was seeing my father as a social worker and seeing the work he’s done and the community of my father inspired me a lot and just being in classrooms with teachers that can’t connect like they can’t control the classroom. I feel like a lot of that comes from students not appreciating or respecting them…because they don’t see the connection, physically. I feel like that disparity alone personally made me want to do it my own and go into classrooms and get more Black educators, especially Black male educators into classrooms to inspire other students. 

Sharif El-Mekki:

A teacher sent me a couple pictures of you leading a classroom not too long ago. Talk about that experience and how were you able to connect with the youth as a freshman in college…those are near peers. In many circles, y’all might just be hanging out together. You were actually leading that class. Talk about that.

Sharif Owens:

So that experience in itself was surprising to me at first because I came to the school just wanting to visit but my teacher told me she wanted me to speak to the classroom. At first I was timid, not wanting to do it but knowing my position and my role that I want to take on later in my life, I felt like it’ll be the best option for me.

So I walked up there, before I said anything, I asked Ms. Henry if I could use my colloquials and not speak how I would speak in a job interview. So I feel like using language, their language, I would connect more, so I spoke slang and I tried my best to connect with them. I noticed that even without doing that, I noticed eyes pop up,

“Oh, he looks young, he’s talking to us, what’s he talking to us for?”

I was sharing my experience of high school, sharing my experiences in college, my first semester in college, and answering questions they had about college, about high school, and about my opinions on certain things. So I feel like just sharing and them hearing it from an 18 year old that just graduated from the school they’re currently in, I feel like it just motivated them and opened their eyes to what their future could possibly be.