Words are powerful. By themselves, words can be empty. But put into action, words can heal. Move. Feed us. Change us. Words can shape us into the community we yearn to be.

We say, hear, and read these words a lot: We are the education community. What does that really mean? What does that look like?

It looks like June 17th, 2010, at Bronson Park where over 1,500 children and their families stopped by our community's first "Make the Promise to Learn" event.

It looks like PNC, a business that wants our children to "Grow up Great!™" and gives of its time and resources to help CIS and fellow organizers-The Family Health Center, KYDnet, Kalamazoo Public Schools, Hispanic American Council, Kalamazoo Public Library, City of Kalamazoo, and NAACP in working with The Event Company-to pull off an event that speaks to who we are as a community.

It looks like 44 youth-serving organizations who welcomed the children and their families, shared information, scholarships, and offered hands-on learning opportunities and information. It looks like the parents who arrived that day along with their children in tow, knowing that learning takes place not just in school, but is a year-round adventure.

It looks like Janice M. Brown, our 2010 Diether Haenicke Promise of Excellence Award recipient and it looks like each one of our recognized "Champs" award recipients, who believe in the CIS vision, are living it out on a regular basis, and who continue to help students succeed in school and in life. 

It looks like the teachers, staff, and administrators throughout the Kalamazoo Public Schools who are dedicated to educating our most precious resource: our children. And it looks like Superintendent Dr. Michael Rice who hasn't yet gotten the memo that it is summer and he can take it easy now!

Are your words and actions helping to build on an education community? Are you doing all you can to send the message to our children that they are important and you want each one of them to fulfill his or her promise? 

If so, it looks like you.  Word.

Photo:  A game for kids based on the CIS "5 Basics" at "Make the Promise to Learn."  Photo taken by CIS volunteer Diana Oravec and cans painted by Corey Smith, Natalie Schneider, Kelsi Douglas, Whitney Hood, and Genevieve Smith.