The week of April 12th through April 16th was an especially busy one for me. I was asked to speak to elementary students at Runnells, Willowbrook, Centennial, Clay, Delaware, Four Mile, Altoona, and Mitchellville. The Iowa Cubs' Cubbie partnered with me at several of the schools. The elementary students were very polite and highly excited - especially by Cubbie's antics. Some of the dreams confessed to me were from would-be singers, baseball and football players. Several of the students wished to have lots of money and to be famous. Some of the more cute dreams were to have my dog stop biting me and to have mom stop yelling at me. One girl wished that she had a thousand friends, a young boy wished his father would play more with him, and a young girl who had just recently moved to Newton wished she'd find one friend to at least play games with her.

A special thank you goes to Laurie Wyatt who was instrumental in scheduling me to speak at Southeast Polk Schools. I'd also like to thank Lori Waddell, Robin Norris, Steve Stotts, Randy Mohning, Kevin Walker, Mrs. Dodge, Lea Morris, and Dennis O'Lear who assured I had everything I needed for my speech at their schools and who made me feel right at home. I'd also like to thank Joe Nelson, the principal of Mitchellville. Joe is an umpire and enjoyed reading the Principal Park book. Mr. Nelson was so impressed with the book that he purchased 50 copies of the book for his 5th grade and 6th grade students.

The seventh graders that I spoke to were also bright and courteous and when I had something important to say they quieted down to allow me to speak. We had a fun game of baseball and after my speech several of the students came up to me and confessed their dreams. They were a great group of students who offered me tremendous respect.

I have spoken to thousands of eighth-graders and we've had a great deal of fun while I am still able to get my message of transition across to them. However, I was never quite able to reach these eighth grade students until the very end of my speech when the intensity in my voice came brazenly through. The crowd was quite stunned - shocked might be a more adequate depiction. Afterwards, not one of the students came up to me to talk. I felt isolated and alone in a sea of bodies scrambling to get to their next class. I wasn't so sure if I had been too forceful in my attempt to reach out to the group of disbelievers. I do know that I limped back to my car drenched in sweat. I've heard teachers tell me their biggest fear is speaking in front of a large crowd. Up until that afternoon, I had never known that type of anxiety. That afternoon was brutal. The constant drone of noise had not only left me frustrated but it also had thrown me completely off my rhythm and pace. I couldn't recall the last 30 minutes of my speech - other than wanting to find a quick exit.

I didn't sleep well that night. I was beginning to doubt myself and whether I should continue to talk to junior high students ever again. I usually only have one chance to reach out to a particular set of students and when I can't reach them it is vey upsetting to me because I feel as if I failed them. But then I thought why can't middle school students still believe in dreams?

You have to wonder: Why is it that as students mature that youthful dreams seem to fade away? Why is it that young adults become untrusting of their peers and would rather swallow their pride than ask for help? For far too long our culture has believed that with maturity comes independence. And yet I have seen the devasting consequences that young adults have inflicted on fellow students when left alone to fend for themselves.

If you ask a middle school or high school student the age they're considered an adult, they'll tell you eighteen when they graduate from high school. And yet, true adulthood isn't properly reached until the age of 30. This big push toward maturity is why growing children sometimes actively engage in promiscuity, why bullying occurs, and why some children go to the extreme and act violently because violence gets immediate attention right or wrong.

There is a big push for standardized education in the classrooms. Because of educational costs, schools are merging and drawing a larger number of students into one school building. But from what I've seen when we institutionalize children in this environment they become unyielding, untrusting, and have a tendency to internalize their weaknesses. These children who fall behind the state's mandate become lost in a never-ending cycle and are in constant reminder that they won't ever amount to much.

The high school my daughter attended had a pond out in front. I always thought it odd to have a pond at a public school in the suburbs until one day I asked the baseball coach at the school why they had a pond out front?

"Oh, this," Coach said pointing at the pond with cattails. "This is the best teaching tool we got."

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"Think about it," he said. "I've seen prissy cheerleaders slip and fall in pond scum and laugh themselves silly. I've seen burly football players too afraid to hook a squiggly worm on a fishing hook. And then I've seen nerdy kids stand out and suddenly become cool because they know how to fish and aren't afraid of catching a slimy crayfish or tadpole. You see, Dr. Mullen, this pond is a place where kids can be kids."

Interesting thought I guess: The pond was a place where kids had the freedom to be kids.

When I look back at my life, what I remember fondly is fishing at Creeper's Pond, camping out at night, playing pick up baseball games, dreaming of hitting a home run at Crosley Field - all the fun things we kids used to do as kids.

An editor once said my story about an average player living out his dream is outdated. I have to wonder if the "diary of a wimpy kid" is all that my generation has left to give. I hope not. I certainly hope not.