Embedded Files
Sierra Lattanzio is a senior at Denfeld High School. She shared her poem during a recent staff meeting at school and read it aloud to the group. We are sharing it with her permission.
Are you proud of yourself?
Are you proud of yourself?
I sit hunched over a tear stained worksheet
“it's not that hard, just get it done”
my parents words replay over and over
x equals… y equals…
my chest tightens and my breath catches.
I read one more page, one more chapter
reread the same paragraph over and over
in one ear out the other
“what symbolizes the main character's struggle?”
I stare down at the page with confused eyes
mindless notes
concepts forgotten a week after the test
recycled papers, disregarded feedback
can this really be called “learning?”
when was the last time I felt curious?
countless times I’ve heard:
“what score did you get?”
“are you passing?”
“when is it due?”
“you could afford to miss that assignment,
it's only five points”
yet I can count on one hand the times I’ve heard
“what did you learn?”
the only thing I’ve learned is how to push through
burnout
this constant cycle of
do as I’m told, get a grade
has chipped away at my ability to
be sure of myself.
I only know that I did something right
if there’s an “A” next to it
so how the hell am I supposed to answer
“are you proud of yourself?”
Student life
Student life
Trey Smith (left) and Desmond Tillman check out the Health Equity stand during Maroon lunch last month in the commons area. Photo by Latasaija Garner
Staff Tidbits
Staff Tidbits
Mr Lewis is a math teacher at Denfeld high school and is very experienced in this profession because this is his 30th year teaching math, But he has been teaching at Denfeld for 13 of those years. What got Mr Lewis into this profession was because he always enjoyed helping his friends, But his English teacher mainly sparked his interest. Mr Lewis’s favorite part about his job is of course his students. Mr Lewis also is a fan of golfing with his friends and spending time with his family. Another fun fact about Mr Lewis is that he was born in South Vietnam in 1971.
Latasaija Garner
English
English
Ms. Bombard is one of the English teachers here at Denfeld High School, She teaches multiple grades with different classes from normal English 10 to drama. Before they started working at Denfeld they went to college for psychology. Well taking psychology classes she wanted to diversify her classes so she took some classes that revolved around english teaching. With both her love of English and new found love of teaching she graduated with a teaching degree then she started working at Denfeld High School. A fun fact about her is that she is a self proclaimed “crazy reader”. She reads at least five books a month.
“When I went to college I studied psychology, but I wanted to spice it up so I took some teaching classes and fell in love with them. After I graduated I went into teaching because I wanted to help the next people after me in a new and different way”
Cooper Kahring
Social Studies
Social Studies
Mr. Schmitz, a staff member who's been working at DHS for a while, made a switch to teaching recently over the summer. Schmitz states he made the decision to switch because he missed teaching in a classroom like he did at other schools.
He originally grew up in Hinckley where his dedication in the school environment began, especially with sports. Some of Schmitz favorite subjects are US history, PE and Pre-Calc. His favorite thing about the DHS community is the students' pride in the school and he enjoys trying to achieve collective goals for the school. Outside of school he spends a lot of time outside by doing activities of golfing, mountain biking and hiking. He also has coached basketball for most of his adult life.
Scott Leslie Jr.
Page updated
Report abuse