Sam Ouk
On Wednesday August 21 we heard from our good friend, former Rotarian Sam Ouk. Sam is spearheading a program in the Faribault Public School District that will strive to give all students the opportunities they personally need to graduate and reach for their dreams. Sam's program is called “Closing the Gap -Equitable Opportunities for All Students.”
Sam spoke to us about equality vs. equity and what that means to students in our community. Everyone may not need the same tools to reach the same end result. We all start out in different places. So, Sam and a group of professionals at the School District are working to identify with students to see what they need to get to the end goal - achieving their dreams. Some students may not even have a dream, or even realize that they can have one!
Part of supporting students and one another is through open minded conversations. Understanding and accepting that we all have different backgrounds; our culture may be quite different from our neighbor. Sam gave the example of Christmas, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, Las Posadas.... all different celebrations in December, but what are we all doing? No matter what you are celebrating you are joining with family and you are thankful.
He said when his family moved to the United States, wives or adult women were treated very different here than he had known before, they didn't go to higher education, they didn't work outside the home. They were the head of the household. His family learned the culture of the United States, and discovered it was great to have two people working to bring in funds for the household.
Sam is at the early stages of implementing this program into the class rooms in Faribault. Our teachers are professionals, they can handle their class rooms in an equality vs. equity climate. We will surely want to hear more from Sam as this program moves forward. A 20-minute presentation is sometimes just not quite long enough. Bravo!! - Sam, on your initiative and we miss you at Rotary!
To reach Sam:
Sam Ouk
340 9th Ave. SE
Faribault MN, 55021
(507) 333-6463