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Students Bury Their 'I Can'ts'

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By JAMIE PILARCZYK, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 8, 2007

EAST TAMPA - Vowing to think positively about their ambitions, students at the Academies for Educational Excellence buried their insecurities Aug. 31.

Gathering in the school's courtyard, 3916 E. Hillsborough Ave., the students wrote their 'I can't' statements on index cards and placed them in an urn donated by Garden of Memories Funeral Home.

Fifth-grader Rebecca Conway, 10, wrote, 'I can't spell good.'

Classmate Jaime Goodman, 10, wrote, 'I can't play football.'

The urn was buried in the school's yard. A marker next to the spot bears the inscription:

The I Can'ts

8-31-2007

Students were given a remembrance card that reads: 'Today we buried the I Can'ts of the Academies for Educational Excellence. We had to let them pass. They were holding us back. They were our excuse to slack. They are no more.'

The public charter school serves students with learning and learning-related disabilities. The tech-savvy school offers a hands-on approach to learning: note-taking is done on laptop computers, business skills are taught on cash registers from Publix and physical therapy is done on a rock-climbing wall.

The school serves kindergarten through 12th grade, and also offers a transitional school for ages 18 to 22.

About 300 fourth- through 12th-graders participated in the I Can't event.

Will the ceremony change their outlooks?

'Probably,' Jaime said, shrugging his shoulders.

Reporter Jamie Pilarczyk can be reached at (813) 835-2114 or jpilarczyk@tampatrib.com.

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