From the moment I walked into the classroom, there was a buzz of conversation and energy. 

Although I enjoy all of the classes that I take, there was a noticeable difference in this class compared to the others. This was a public speaking class that taught debate, and it was an inside-outside class with traditional college students and incarcerated students. I was among the latter. 

Everyone in the class looked genuinely happy to be there. Students were engaged everywhere I looked, meeting one another. It didn’t seem to matter whether they were from the college campus or from the prison. I hadn’t felt anything like how I felt that day in years. The atmosphere felt foreign, but so good. 

First, we had an icebreaker, in which we introduced ourselves and talked about our biggest pet peeve. My pet peeve is close talkers. (Please get out of my bubble. You really don’t have to be so close to me.) Everyone found each other’s pet peeves to be relatable: smacking your lips while you eat, lying, bad breath, being a backseat driver. 

The class was then broken up into eight groups of four: two students from the college and two students from the prison. I asked the other students in my group if they felt the same excitement in this class as I did, and they all nodded in agreement. 

This class provides an environment that is out of the ordinary for all students. This element of mixing two types of students together takes people out of their comfort zone, which allows all of us to grow. 

The next thing we did was called a balloon debate. We were to imagine that each one of us in the group were on a hot-air balloon that was losing air quickly, and we needed to reduce weight, which meant people would have to get off the hot-air balloon. 

Each student had to come up with a character, fictional or otherwise, and convince the others in the group why they should get to stay on the balloon. I chose to be the hot-air balloon operator. It seemed like the logical choice. How do you get rid of the guy who is responsible for your safety? I was voted to be the last remaining person on our group’s balloon. Other students in my group chose to be Gandhi, President Trump, and Casper the Friendly Ghost.

In just one evening, this class made me feel like a normal member of society, instead of the “inmate” that I am considered to be the rest of the time. It makes me wonder what else is out there that can make me feel so alive despite my circumstances. 

Most of the time I feel like my potential is being wasted. I feel like the walking dead, just living from day to day with no grasp of a real future because I am stuck in this place that is full of negativity, emptiness and despair. 

But maybe this class is a glimpse of what’s to come.