@Dak Here's some reading material if you're still in the plane... #DearDak #LetsGoToProm
Dear Dak,
I am not a football fan. We don't know each other, but you've gravitated me towards football, rooting for you, and rooting for my hometown team. I had no interest in the Dallas Cowboys, although I listen to 105.3 the fan in the mornings, and in between my route from my first job to my second job. I'm a baseball girl. Baseball is my favorite thing in my wonderful life, and it's been there for me, kind of how football has for you. I'm not going to write to you, about your life, because you lived it. Instead, I'll tell you a little about me, and maybe you'll understand why I do what I do, and why I'm about to ask you the silliest, yet most fulfilling thing.
My name is Amanda. I'm 25 years old, I still live at home, and I work two jobs. I work part time at Dick's Sporting Goods, as a lead cashier from 5:30-10 Sunday-Thursday. I've been there for 5 years and 3 months. I also work full time at MacArthur High School in Irving (yes, THAT MacArthur) as an attendance clerk. This is my second full year at Mac, and although my students and their parents can be hellacious... I love my job and can't imagine doing anything else for 40 hours a week. I am not a very religious person, but I'd like to think of myself as a boss, point blank, period. Every year my sister (@sorinotsorry) and I take baseball and softball equipment to the Dominican Republic and we donate it to teams and kids in need. Last year we were able to give to two all girls softball teams in a Quisqueya, a wonderfully maintained village in San Pedro de Macoris, DR and we got to play softball, a sport we grew up playing with local girls and women. That day could have easily been the best day of my life.
I used to skip school when I was in high school my freshman year. I hung with the wrong crowd, and I accidentally snitched on myself. When my mom found out she was understandably pissed. She wanted to whoop my tail right then and there but my dad convinced her not to. I didn't understand why he did it until this year: one night over dinner, Dad told me he used to skip school all the time.
Fast forward to 11 years after my freshman year. I work as an attendance clerk at the best high school in Irving, and one of the best public schools in the country. Our school is diverse: we have Caucasian kids, African American kids, African kids, Mexican kids, Salvadorian kids, kids from North Irving, kids from South Irving, I even have two Dominican kids and one whose mom is Russian. One of my office aides in the attendance office is Mexican-American, and will be the first in his family to go to college. He also happens to be our 2016-2017 Salutatorian and got accepted to his first choice school, University of Texas at Austin. I have another office aide who is a bright young woman. She was one of very few High School students chosen for a summer program at UT Southwestern. I can't tell you what she did, because when she told me, it went way over my head, but she's amazing, and I'm lucky to have her. For every amazing kid I have, I can tell you more stories about the ones who have trouble. I had a student last year who was from Detroit and lost his brother in Detroit and best friend in Texas to gun violence in a two month span. I also had a student who was arrested by police and his charge was a felony. I don't remember what the official charge was, but it wasn't good. Everyone expected him to drop out and basically work full time to pay for a decent lawyer but he didn't. He stayed in school, had really shitty attendance, but when he was there he had a big smile on his face and didn't let anyone see how much he was truly hurting. I gave him a Christmas card and a $50 gift card for whatever he needed because part of his bond agreement was he couldn't go home (his charge had to do with a domestic felony). Thanksgiving and Christmas without your family? During that time I made him a part of mine, and made sure he knew I'd never give up on him. He ended up moving schools because of his living situation, but he ended up with his High School Diploma and now is a Manager at his place of work and he's on yearly salary pay making more than I do at my full time job. He's saved in my phone as "Baby Brother" and God put him in my life so we could feed off of each other's energy. When I have a bad day at the school I text him and he gives me the support I need to keep going. He reminds me of how much I pushed him to succeed and he reminds me there are more kids like him, if not in worse situations who need someone in their corner.
I haven't even gotten to the sports side yet. If you haven't heard of Mac Basketball (boys AND girls) you should Google my kids. Coach Martin and Coach O are AMAZING and put out wonderful teams year after year. Our softball team has been the thing I'm proudest of, because since I played AGAINST them as a high schooler, I know how historically bad they used to be. Coach McTee has worked hard for a very long time to get his team to playoffs for the first time, and they even made it in back to back years.
Our football team is under construction, but which one isn't? With 50+ players, there are a lot of integral pieces that need very fine tuning, and even though our Mac football team wasn't too hot this year (let's not talk numbers) the coaching staff is pretty great not only at coaching, but at being awesome mentors to these young men.
Have you Googled MacArthur High School yet? While we're pretty great we've found ourselves in the news for not-so-favorable reasons. Which is why I am writing you today.
From my understanding, reading all these stories I have, watching these videos if interviews of people that know you, you haven't had an incredibly easy life. No one does. I feel like you are an awesome "story" and a pretty good role model, not only for high school kids, but for some adults as well. I didn't want to like you. I don't like football. But reading about you changed my whole mentality, and with your production on the field how can I not watch?!
You'd be a pretty awesome person to bring around my kids, so I wanted to know if you'll be my chaperone date to the 2017 MacArthur High School Prom?
This might be the most anti-climatic Promposal ever, but a girl has to ask early, because you're a hot commodity. All I know is its in May, but I knew I needed to ask early. I can give you more details in a few days.
No matter the answer I had to try. I want to show my kids anything is possible, whether it be playing in the NFL for America's Team, becoming an Attendance Clerk after skipping 26 days of freshman year, or getting the World's favorite QB to go with you to Prom, even though you're both too old to be on a high school dance floor.
Please follow me, and reply with an answer. I'll be posting this letter with the hashtag #DearDak til I hear from you!
Hoping for a yes,
Ms. Martinez
Attendance Clerk G-L
#WeWillWin
Dear Dak,
I am not a football fan. We don't know each other, but you've gravitated me towards football, rooting for you, and rooting for my hometown team. I had no interest in the Dallas Cowboys, although I listen to 105.3 the fan in the mornings, and in between my route from my first job to my second job. I'm a baseball girl. Baseball is my favorite thing in my wonderful life, and it's been there for me, kind of how football has for you. I'm not going to write to you, about your life, because you lived it. Instead, I'll tell you a little about me, and maybe you'll understand why I do what I do, and why I'm about to ask you the silliest, yet most fulfilling thing.
My name is Amanda. I'm 25 years old, I still live at home, and I work two jobs. I work part time at Dick's Sporting Goods, as a lead cashier from 5:30-10 Sunday-Thursday. I've been there for 5 years and 3 months. I also work full time at MacArthur High School in Irving (yes, THAT MacArthur) as an attendance clerk. This is my second full year at Mac, and although my students and their parents can be hellacious... I love my job and can't imagine doing anything else for 40 hours a week. I am not a very religious person, but I'd like to think of myself as a boss, point blank, period. Every year my sister (@sorinotsorry) and I take baseball and softball equipment to the Dominican Republic and we donate it to teams and kids in need. Last year we were able to give to two all girls softball teams in a Quisqueya, a wonderfully maintained village in San Pedro de Macoris, DR and we got to play softball, a sport we grew up playing with local girls and women. That day could have easily been the best day of my life.
I used to skip school when I was in high school my freshman year. I hung with the wrong crowd, and I accidentally snitched on myself. When my mom found out she was understandably pissed. She wanted to whoop my tail right then and there but my dad convinced her not to. I didn't understand why he did it until this year: one night over dinner, Dad told me he used to skip school all the time.
Fast forward to 11 years after my freshman year. I work as an attendance clerk at the best high school in Irving, and one of the best public schools in the country. Our school is diverse: we have Caucasian kids, African American kids, African kids, Mexican kids, Salvadorian kids, kids from North Irving, kids from South Irving, I even have two Dominican kids and one whose mom is Russian. One of my office aides in the attendance office is Mexican-American, and will be the first in his family to go to college. He also happens to be our 2016-2017 Salutatorian and got accepted to his first choice school, University of Texas at Austin. I have another office aide who is a bright young woman. She was one of very few High School students chosen for a summer program at UT Southwestern. I can't tell you what she did, because when she told me, it went way over my head, but she's amazing, and I'm lucky to have her. For every amazing kid I have, I can tell you more stories about the ones who have trouble. I had a student last year who was from Detroit and lost his brother in Detroit and best friend in Texas to gun violence in a two month span. I also had a student who was arrested by police and his charge was a felony. I don't remember what the official charge was, but it wasn't good. Everyone expected him to drop out and basically work full time to pay for a decent lawyer but he didn't. He stayed in school, had really shitty attendance, but when he was there he had a big smile on his face and didn't let anyone see how much he was truly hurting. I gave him a Christmas card and a $50 gift card for whatever he needed because part of his bond agreement was he couldn't go home (his charge had to do with a domestic felony). Thanksgiving and Christmas without your family? During that time I made him a part of mine, and made sure he knew I'd never give up on him. He ended up moving schools because of his living situation, but he ended up with his High School Diploma and now is a Manager at his place of work and he's on yearly salary pay making more than I do at my full time job. He's saved in my phone as "Baby Brother" and God put him in my life so we could feed off of each other's energy. When I have a bad day at the school I text him and he gives me the support I need to keep going. He reminds me of how much I pushed him to succeed and he reminds me there are more kids like him, if not in worse situations who need someone in their corner.
I haven't even gotten to the sports side yet. If you haven't heard of Mac Basketball (boys AND girls) you should Google my kids. Coach Martin and Coach O are AMAZING and put out wonderful teams year after year. Our softball team has been the thing I'm proudest of, because since I played AGAINST them as a high schooler, I know how historically bad they used to be. Coach McTee has worked hard for a very long time to get his team to playoffs for the first time, and they even made it in back to back years.
Our football team is under construction, but which one isn't? With 50+ players, there are a lot of integral pieces that need very fine tuning, and even though our Mac football team wasn't too hot this year (let's not talk numbers) the coaching staff is pretty great not only at coaching, but at being awesome mentors to these young men.
Have you Googled MacArthur High School yet? While we're pretty great we've found ourselves in the news for not-so-favorable reasons. Which is why I am writing you today.
From my understanding, reading all these stories I have, watching these videos if interviews of people that know you, you haven't had an incredibly easy life. No one does. I feel like you are an awesome "story" and a pretty good role model, not only for high school kids, but for some adults as well. I didn't want to like you. I don't like football. But reading about you changed my whole mentality, and with your production on the field how can I not watch?!
You'd be a pretty awesome person to bring around my kids, so I wanted to know if you'll be my chaperone date to the 2017 MacArthur High School Prom?
This might be the most anti-climatic Promposal ever, but a girl has to ask early, because you're a hot commodity. All I know is its in May, but I knew I needed to ask early. I can give you more details in a few days.
No matter the answer I had to try. I want to show my kids anything is possible, whether it be playing in the NFL for America's Team, becoming an Attendance Clerk after skipping 26 days of freshman year, or getting the World's favorite QB to go with you to Prom, even though you're both too old to be on a high school dance floor.
Please follow me, and reply with an answer. I'll be posting this letter with the hashtag #DearDak til I hear from you!
Hoping for a yes,
Ms. Martinez
Attendance Clerk G-L
#WeWillWin