The classroom is like a war zone. There are boys aged four to fifteen yelling across the room. They were hyper, they had finished playing football moments ago.

A boy jumps up.
“Can I say what my favorite part about Faith Love and Hope is?” He asks. Then he answers without waiting for a response. “I like playing football!”
The boy’s names are mysteries. It’s an unconventional interview. It’s the boys in a room together, writing their answers on a sheet of paper.
An older one stands up.
“Ma’am!” he said. “Jacoby wants to fight me!”

Questions number two and three: What is your favorite memory at Faith Love and
Hope? Why?

There are boys obviously not writing anything. There are others writing furiously. One’s pencil breaks. One with a bloody lip from football dabs at it with a tissue. Then with his shirt.

Question number four: How long have you been going to Faith Love and Hope for?

Answers start flying across the room.
“I started a month ago!”
“I’ve been here for a week!”
“I’ve been going here for three years!”
There are some boys who can’t remember exactly how long.

Question number five: Do you like Faith Love and Hope better than school? Why or why not?

A boy jumps up from the corner of the room.

“This is the same thing as school!” he said.
Another boy jumps up a desk across from him.
“Yeah,” he said. “But we get food here!”

Question number six: Would you do your homework if you didn’t go to Faith Love and Hope?

The boys are afraid to answer the question out loud. The ones who weren’t writing earlier still aren’t writing. The ones writing furiously before are slowing down.

“Ma’am!” a younger boy said. “Ma’am! I’m going to write my mother’s name. Can you put her name in the newspaper?”

His mother: Renea Jamison.
His mother helps him with his homework when he does it at home.
Class ends. Most boys leave. Two stay. They want to finish the questions.

Questions number seven and eight: Has Faith Love and Hope changed you?

How and why?

Malik. College Hill Middle School. Fifth grade.

7. I have changed a lot.
8. I don’t get in as much trouble.

The boys write as fast as they can, their friends pressure them to go hang out by the
door.

Question number nine: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Last question.

Jaquel. College Hill Middle School. Fifth grade.

9.

It’s left blank.
“Here you go,” Yell said. “Here’s my interview.”