By Serena Zets- 11th Grade, Pittsburgh CAPA

This is for the teenagers whose brilliance is stifled

by our outdated and unfocused education system.

An institution whose resources and budget are frustrated
and regurgitate between sterile schools.

School has become a place an unintentional sanctuary of stress
rather than one of knowledge,
a fountain of numbers, not of youth.

We’ve reached the breaking point.

This is for teenagers whose hearts were broken
by college rejection letters before
any first love had a shot.

A place where all nighters blur together until
we haven’t slept for weeks. Our youthful energy is wasted
and broadcasted on social media
like a contemporary scarlet letter.

Creative types retaliate against an existence
based on misunderstanding.
They choose to live in damp basements
and dream at night. Basements dank
with sweat and broken promises,
rotten SAT scores slumped in a corner.
Their day jobs, cashiers/bus drivers/etc.
don’t match their intellect,
but their passion does.

New money isn’t cold hard cash,
it’s the promise of innovation and progress.
The complexities of our 21st century space age lives
can’t be confined to the bubbles of a standardized test.