Lights in the future

This poem is about making the choice to not let things get in your way, but instead, trying to make a difference and give hope to the world.

By Briant T. from Project Citizen in Connecticut

I’m an achiever

Never letting go of my strength

Playing basketball filled with laughter and sweat

Growing up pleased with my memory of playing outside, 

running around seems far fetched

My story will keep children heart warm

I would use anything negative as fuel to push through 

the positive like my mom said 

everything goes by fast but 

you can make a difference in this world 

if you try


Inspired by Nikki Giovanni 

Project Citizen

Project Citizen '19

Project Citizen is a youth writing lab that is offered as part of the Connecticut Writing Project at Fairfield University. The mission of Project Citizen is to empower young writers to engage in issues of social and political importance through a variety of genres in order to both find their voice and to become fully realized citizens in our democracy. Project Citizen brings together students from school districts and towns in Fairfield county that represent a variety of economic, racial, ethnic, and religious demographic groups in an effort to break down the "zip code apartheid" that stands in the way of true collaborative learning.

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Writing Our Future: American Creed is part of the National Writing Project’s family of youth publishing projects, all gathered under the Writing Our Future initiative.

Writing Our Future projects are designed by educators for educators and the young people they work with. Intended for use in schools, libraries, and other educational settings. All projects are COPPA compliant and educator-managed. NWP is committed to supporting young people’s writing and civic participation by providing a safe and supportive environment for youth writing, media creation, sharing, and publishing.