No Worker Left Behind; One Rapidian's experiences

Over the last several years I have basically skated through life and my career never worrying about the incomplete degree that I knew I shouldn't be neglecting. Now, I have found myself in the unenviable position of having to jump back into the workforce without the benefit of a degree. While I know that I have a lot of work to catch up to finish my degree while supporting my family, I am feeling a little more secure now that I have done some research n the No Worker Left Behind program. No Worker Left Behind www.michigan.gov/nwlb is a great program that is helping 100,000 Michigan workers get themselves into a better position in the job market.

Even though I know that my future will get back on track with this opportunity to better myself through furthering my education, the thing i am really excited about is having to make my money go a little farther than I previously had to.

This will mean finding a more sustainable way to entertain the family, and engage in the city around us, rather than just throwing money out there without much regard to what the value is that i am getting back from it. Urban exploration will become an endeavor in and of itself.

My two sons, ages 8 and 9, always manage to find something remarkable to investigate in the world whenever we go out and about in the city. It has pretty much become an obsession for our family. Recently we discovered a pyramid in the midst of our own city! Did you know that Oak Hill Cemetary on Hall St has a pyramid as a moment that reaches nearly two stories into the sky? One evening we made the journey to Belknap Lookout to snap long exposure shots of the downtown area on our digital camera. My son Marley managed to take one of the best shots my camera has ever captured; a hazy, luminescent blue shot of the new DeVos Children's Hospital under construction. Another source of endless fascination for the boys--and myself--has been the Artprize exhibit, The Furniture City Sets the Table for the World of Art, which sits atop the blue pedestrian bridge adjacent to Fulton St . Something about the behemoth proportions of the table and two chairs just captivates my sons. We even had to make a family trip to the riverfront to get shots of the installation, as well as some of the other fun things along the river boardwalk.

One of our next little projects as a family is to plan a tour of the city using the bus system, the Rapid, to navigate our way to each little adventure. I am confident that we will find a nearly endless stream of fascinating destination,activities, and people along the way. And of course we will be making a video of it along the way to share with all of our friends. I hope that when my boys are older, they will remember all of our good times searching out new and local adventures, putting our hearts and our money back into the city we love. It seems that the city of Grand Rapids is full of endless little miracles to capture our imaginations.