Email Exchanges

From the Core Curriculum Personal Component: "Where I Am, Where I Am Going" email exchange

Radeeka[Mentee]

Hi Jill,
How are you? I had fun seeing you at the kick-off event. You are everything I expected and more! Everyday I wake up at 6:00am and my mother and two brothers are sleeping. The apartment is pitch black. Sometimes I walk into walls or doors if I am still asleep. Everyday my father calls to make sure I am up. He tells me if it is going to rain, or if it is really cold outside to dress warm. I shower and go to my closet to pick out clothes if I didn’t already. Sometimes when I am dressing I might make too much noise and my mom gets up to watch me or talk to me. At 6:40 my friend calls and I leave. Outside I see kids going to school and adults going to work. I get to school on the 4 or 5 train. The train is crowed. Westinghouse is located in Brooklyn. It’s a big beautiful building. There are many people of different races in my school. The teachers, deans and even officers are all cheerful in their own way.

In 20 years I will be 35 years old, living in Queens or New Jersey. I would get up at 5:30 every morning. My house would be white with the poles in front just like the White House. I would wake up next to my husband and our four kids would be asleep in their rooms. I would wake up my husband and take my shower. Then I would wake the children up and go to the kitchen to start breakfast. Everyone showers and is at the table eating breakfast. I comb my younger daughter’s hair. My husband takes the children to school. When I am outside, my neighbors arewaving, I wave back. The block is filled with many houses. I am the head nurse at a hospital in Queens and in my younger days I was a model.My office is on the second floor with my name on the door and my patient’s files on my desk for the day. My family’s picture is on the desk and my white jacket with my name is hanging on the door.

Well I loved seeing you and hope we can do it again. Now I finally have a face in my mind to the name Jill.

Jill[Mentor]


Hi Radeeka,
It was so great to meet you at the kick-off event! I have been thinking about it ever since. I am available to go to the event at the Museum of National History in December, so let me know if you’re interested. I love that you put so much detail into your morning routine. It really gives me a sense of what your morning is like (love the part about bumping into walls because I do it too!!!). You paint a great picture of what you want your life to be like in 20 years. You should save this email somewhere, and look at it in 20 years to see how it compares. Maybe life will be even better than this, or just totally different. Who knows? It’s so hard to know what will be in the future, but it’s fun to imagine.

On a good morning, I’ll wake up at 6am and get ready to go to the gym. Then I come home and get ready for work. We have a radio in the bathroom that I listen to in the shower. Sometimes I listen to NPR or Stevie Wonder or if I want to get my energy up, dance mixes. I take the subway to work. The courthouse is in downtown Manhattan. It’s a really pretty building with a big staircase and columns out front. I come into the office, and I see our courtroom deputy, the judge’s administrative helper, my two co-clerks and the judge and say good morning to everyone.

In 20 years, I will be living in a suburb of Maryland with my husband, a civil rights attorney, and my three daughters, Emma, Madeline, and Hannah. I am the director of the National Women’s Law Center (very cool organization). I get up early, get ready for the gym before work, and then wake up the girls. My husband packs everyone’s lunches and drops the girls off at school. I go to work in my office in the middle of Washington DC. I greet my administrative assistant, who greets me with a copy of my schedule for the day.

Can’t wait to hear from you on Wednesday.