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“I didn’t like the fact that I was being doubted because, over time, I really started to doubt myself.”

— Adriana, The James Baldwin School student    cdn.com/content/v1/574dc424b09f95e90074cdbc/1582166063187-MW5GIBQEMT7G5KL64IJA/20200217_140333.jpg?format=1000w">

Maria De Los Santos is a senior at Comprehensive Model School Project 327 in the South Bronx.

By Maria De Los Santos

To Adriana, school was a happy place — at the elementary level.

During her middle-school years, though, she eventually stopped going to school, started hanging out with the “wrong crowd” and was “sent away.” She was in the foster care system and did not have a calm, supportive household to support her.

I met Adriana at The James Baldwin School, where she introduced herself as “bacon on a stove.” I wanted to know more about the challenges she faced and how transferring to Baldwin impacted her.

I learned that Adriana became involved in the restorative-justice practices that Baldwin offers, and the open-minded culture at the school helped her become a role model to others. She turned her life around from almost dropping out of high school to being a leader, the “go-to” person at James Baldwin. The school became like her home.

To learn more about restorative justice, I attended a workshop during the summer with several students from James Baldwin and City-As-School High School. The conversations and community spirit really moved me. All schools should provide restorative justice, especially those with students who have experienced pain from institutional systems, such as the educational and political systems.

I admire Adriana's strength and resilience. She didn't allow her struggles to stand in her way as she graduated from high school this past June and enrolled in a SUNY school to study criminal justice.

To hear more of Adriana's story and the ways that restorative justice can help students, listen to the Miseducation podcast.

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(left to right) Zion, MJ, and Cevon participated in a restorative justice workshop at The James Baldwin School this summer led by connect.org/about">Peer Connect, a firm that focuses on spreading restorative practices.

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This podcast season about transfer high schools is produced in partnership with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.

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The music for this season includes original tracks from Elijah Goodman, a.k.a. Ejcali, born in Santa Clarita, California, and now living in Brooklyn. He is an upcoming music producer self-taught in piano, inspired by creating various genres of music. In addition to working with Building Beats, Elijah is a member of S.I.M.B.A., a youth empowerment program in Brooklyn.