My Little Family

By Bridgitte Thao, 17, Minnesota

My little family

started at Newark Airport

with donuts and dreamy gazes.

My little family

is the eighteenth cohort,

a dazzling crew that amazes.

My little family

broke bread and drank milk

with blinking fireflies. 

My little family

made my whole world tilt

with blinking wide eyes.

My little family,

from all states and regions, 

from all rhymes and reasons,

loves with a bond so strong,

with a net so wide,

with eyes so bright,

with smiles so white. 

My little family:

brimming with light.

My little family

from day one to now,

lip-synced,

hula-hooped,

crossed lines,

stopped time,

held hands,

and took stands. 

My little family, thankfully,

is a community now.

My little family 

taught me how to be fearless,

to smear lipstick on my teeth,

to rip my buttons free

and sing my heart out.

They taught me to parse

the lies from truth, 

To fight nail-and-tooth. 

My little family taught me

to snap my chains and fly free.

In the pink sunsets and gray rain clouds,

In the browns and blues of their eyes

I see their brilliance burning loud.

I see the rays of a new sun, ready to rise.

As the light sets on our green pastures,

my little family, piece by piece, fractures.

As the last charter buses drive from Forbes,

We drive to new opportunities, new doors.

My little family– my LEDA family–

blooms into a blazing community

of leaders, scholars, and trail-blazers.

Dear world: watch my family and savor.

---

For five weeks this past summer, I spent my days living amongst other first-generation, low-income rising seniors from across the nation through a program known as LEDA (Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America). While living and learning on Princeton University’s campus, I discovered a treasure that I can’t seem to dislodge from my heart: the little family that I created with the ninety-seven other souls there with me. Although we came from such different, unique backgrounds, we were all united in our drive to create a more equitable, diverse world.

On our last night together, I performed this piece out loud for my cohort to hear. It touched me to see people wiping away tears and sniffling. It was comforting to know that I wasn’t the only one so profoundly impacted by the people I had lived with for five weeks. As we always say, LEDA for life!

Photo by Kimson Doan