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photography by anjali pinto "Six years ago, I began teaching at Harper [High School]—South Side, West Englewood. This American Life did a two-part series on the school because 29 kids were shot; eight were killed [in] a single school year. Teachers there really came to understand what does violence, poverty, isolation, lack of access to resources look like? You quickly realize that we have classrooms full of kids who have never seen the lake—17-year-old kids who don't even know what Millennium Park is. "I was preparing this Shakespeare lesson—we were doing Macbeth, I believe. I stood in front of the class and said, 'I'm going to pose a question, and we're going to have a debate.' The question was, 'If you go to the grocery store with your mom and she starts picking up grapes and eating them as she shops, is that steal- ing? Would you do the same? Why or why not?' I thought that we were going to have a really deep conversation. The conversation totally derailed and the kids were like, 'What kind of grocery store are you talking about, Khan? What do you mean, grapes? Where is this happening?' I had to explain, and I said, 'Have you heard of Jewel? Have you heard of Dominick's?' I mentioned Whole Foods, and they asked me if I knew what Quick Stop was. The class was laughing at me for not knowing Quick Stop and for having a lesson that flopped. At that instant, I saw I am missing the game: I'm sitting here talking about morality and Shakespeare, and I have kids who have no idea about basic elements in life, so as I'm connecting the learning, what context does it have? "I met another teacher, January Miller, and we began to realize that the achievement gap was the direct result of a social gap that needed a different type of intervention our education system was not offering. January and I had to take matters into our own hands, and we started to go to restaurants, the- aters, plays, and universities [with our students]. We saw a huge spike in kids who were engaged in these extracurricular experiences, so we began to fund that through our pockets. One day we were carpooling, and I was like, 'January, we can't just keep paying for this out-of-pocket. This is going to get hard, but we need to get more kids. How about we launch a nonprofit?' "[Embarc] started with 30 kids [and] two teachers. The next year, we got demands from some friends who were teaching at other schools to have the pro- gram. This fall, we'll be at 10 schools serving 650 kids. It's a three-year program that's integrated directly within the school day, so students can go to an Embarc class that's focused on providing this intense experience and curriculum inter- vention. The Embarc program itself is connecting powerful experiences with models of success to drive a passion and perseverance for long-term goals, and Widening the World after founding embarc to expose students to the world beyond the classroom, Imran han continues to push for a future without limits. as told to meg mathis Imran Khan's Embarc has gone from serving 30 kids to 650, with a goal of expanding to some 2,000 students at 15 high schools across Chicago. conTinued on pAge 80 78 michiganavemag.com PEOPLE Spirit of Generosity