Caine's Arcade

At the request of several students, I'm posting this video we watched at snack this morning. It's fortunate to have so many great messages come out of an uplifting story such as Caine's. Below the video are some bits of the discussion but save that for after you view the story.




The first idea the kids wanted to talk about was Caine's imagination, which we all agreed on. The conversation quickly turned to the amount of determination Caine showed. He didn't give up at the first signs of defeat. Somebody then brought up the idea that it wasn't really determination because the success came from one guy who happened to wander in. Another student was quick to acknowledge, however, that if Caine hadn't been so persistent the opportunity would have never provided itself.

Opportunity is, of course, the key idea here. Yes, Caine's Arcade could have easily failed. Which is the unfortunate fate of many ideas. And that's okay. Even if nobody came, Caine would have gained a lot great skills from developing his idea. He created games out of cardboard, he showed exceptional problem solving (the tickets, the economics of the fun pass and its verification).

Even if Caine hadn't been so fortunate this round, developing that set of skills and character traits would be payoff enough. Those who follow their passion and build their intrinsic drive spend more time developing these essential skills for 21st century success. Odds are, one of Caine's ventures would have eventually succeeded.

Update: In the past 3 days, 100,000 dollars has been raised for Caine's scholarship fund. Stay up to date!

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