27 Feb From Chapter Books to Michelle Obama: Welcome to the Business of Becoming
Last night, I needed a soul refill, and I knew Michelle Obama could deliver. I pulled up her documentary Becoming, and it hit me: she isn’t just talking about her life. She’s talking about exactly what we do here at Academic Access every single day.
If a neighbor asks, “Joan, what do you do for work?” I’m tempted to stop saying educational consultant and just say, “I work in becoming.” Because that’s the real job, isn’t it? We aren’t just filing applications. We are helping humans evolve.
In the film, Michelle describes the process as an emotional, sociological dance. It’s messy, rhythmic, and deeply personal. She reminds us not to look around students, but to look right at them and take in their story. In the college admissions world, everything can feel sanitized. We talk about tracks, the honors track, the athlete track, the STEM track. But Michelle’s wisdom reframes it: “Get back on what track? I’m creating my next track.”
One of my favorite moments in the film is the line, “Nobody twerking, we are reading.” It’s punchy and funny, and it captures that pivot toward growth. It immediately reminded me of a student I worked with recently. I asked him for a secret that few people knew about him, the kind of raw truth we need to uncover a next track. He looked at me, stone faced, and said, “I have never read a chapter book.”
He was seventeen. And yes, at seventeen, we are still calling them chapter books when they feel like an unscalable mountain. In a sanitized world, that’s a red flag. In the business of becoming, that’s the beginning of the best story ever told. It’s the moment we stop looking at what they should have done and start looking at what they care about and what they want to do next.
We have a responsibility to these kids. As Michelle says, “I am not raising kids that don’t know how to make their bed.” We are here to push them to take ownership, to get their education, and to believe that their story has value, even the chapters they haven’t read yet.
Whether it’s figuring out what brings them down or what they are looking forward to, our goal is to help them let their lives speak for themselves. The future belongs to the next generation, and they need encouragement to realize there is another chapter waiting for them.
At Academic Access, we believe every student is an agent of their own becoming. We’re simply here to help them write the rest of the book.