The following words are from Buford High students; however, to protect their identity, their names and image are not included.
ep 7 BHS Academic Coaches by Zoe Deese
ep 6 Landon Bryson by Alex Bryson
"I have ADHD and it affects me because I have a very short attention span. It's hard to sit still through a movie or even through class. I've struggled with this my whole life. While not only do I struggle sitting still, I struggle with making friends. Making friends has been one of my biggest challenges because I'm different than everyone else. "
"The learning disability I have is ADHD and dyslexia so it is so hard for me to focus, read, and spell. If you have this you also know how hard it is to do good in school. But that doesn't stop me from trying my best in every class. Outside of school, I don't really have a hard time focusing mainly because I’m doing the things I like to do. That is the learning disability I have. "
"I have ADHD and autism. I have trouble focusing in class and at other times. I have trouble staying still sometimes. Even though I have autism, I sometimes feel that I am more mature than my classmates. Despite having these disabilities, I can still be very successful in class and out of school. "
"I have a specific learning disability in reading and writing. This makes my life difficult by me not being able to do the stuff as fast as other people. I have difficulty doing work and learning how to do it. It takes me longer than other kids to figure it out. This is why I need extra help. "
"My learning disability affects me in many ways. My struggles can be described as having problems with math and not being able to understand something new if I don’t understand it through a step-by-step guide or teaching. I have had help with multiple issues through people I described as my heroes, because they have helped me understand stuff I can’t understand on my own. I have a lot of energy half of the time, and I can become distracted easily if I don’t have anything to do or don’t understand something we are doing in the classroom. "
"My disability affects me by when I try to concentrate on reading I can’t because there is too much going on around me. I try to concentrate, but while I read, if the noise is too much around me I tend to focus on that instead of the reading because it messes with my concentration. If a noise like a fan, air conditioner, or something buzzes loud enough, my mind would focus on that and I wouldn’t be able to read. I have a shortened attention span, then I’ll just have trouble concentrating until that thing is silenced."
"I have a learning disability, so I have a hard time understanding things or fully learning things about some subjects. It mostly affects my writing abilities or causes me to have a hard time understanding how to spell some words. It affects my writing abilities since I believe that I am actually really good at learning other things or at least good at learning anything that involves math. Truthfully, it has affected me in some ways since I either need help spelling words or I will ask to google how to spell out that word. It has also caused me to write long pagers since if I can’t spell the words then I will use a bunch of words to help people understand what I am trying to say. There is a negative and positive effects to it sometimes, but it is something that I live with and it doesn't really affect how I live, so it is just one part of me. "
"I have a hearing impairment. I am deaf in both ears and use cochlear implants to help me hear. Sometimes it is hard to hear what other people are saying, especially when in a loud environment. I have trouble hearing the announcements, video assignments without captions, echoey places, etc, which means I may miss something crucial. A lot of times, people around me do not make it any easier. "
"I have a specific learning disability in reading comprehension. This means whenever I’m given a passage I do not comprehend it. In my everyday life, I struggle with reading signs, passages, etc. Sometimes whenever given a passage, I get hung up with the big words. One of my accommodations is restating the question which helps A LOT. Overall having a disability does not make you or you define who you are."
"I have Autism. In my opinion, Autism is a disability that not only affects one’s learning but also their social life. Autism has a spectrum, the spectrum places how much help or assistance an Autistic individual is in need than another. An Autistic individual’s mind does not function like that of a normal one, and it makes it hard for an Autistic individual to process, manage, and learn things that a normal individual could do easily. It also can heavily affect their social life, some Autistic individuals find it challenging to socialize or make direct eye contact. This does not mean an Autistic individual can’t perform the same tasks that any normal person can, but there is so much that is still not known about it, so there is still a lot to learn about it."
"I have a disability in math and it makes it hard to stay on task. I also have ADHD. It is a disability that makes it to where it is harder to stay on task and complete work. Also, it will make it hard for you to read because if something else is happening it’s going to make you get off task and not pay attention to what you need to. So, if you are doing something and you see something else you like, then you will pay more attention to it rather than your school work. That leads to not getting work done at all or even on time. "
"I have a learning disability in reading. When it comes to reading, I can never stay in the same spot on the page, and I cannot understand what some of the words mean. I also have a hard time understanding what I am reading about. I also have trouble when it comes to writing. I am not the world's best speller. Those are my disabilities and how they affect me."
episode 5 Dr. Medinger by Zoe Deese
episode 3 Kaylee Snipes by Rylie Beckham
episode 4 Emilie Benton by Emmie Johnson
episode 1 Coach Susi by Zoe Deese
episode 2 Robbie Young by Zoe Deese
“Being a senior is relaxing; it feels very achieving. I’m very happy to be almost done. My goal this year has been to accomplish graduating from high school and go to college. I’m going to York Tech College. High school is… it’s definitely been a ride, very memorable. I’ve made a lot of good friends, and I’ve worked a lot. My happiest memory is probably every day at lunch with my friends because they’re fun to be around and it’s fun to socialize. Finding inspiration in things such as quotes has really helped me get through my senior year, believe it or not. The kind that motivates you to be a better person. I can’t think of any off the top of my head right now though, I’d have to look it up. My freshman year was when COVID happened, so it was very normal at first but when the second semester came by it got very very depressing because you would lose all your friends your first year in this new school. Coming back was very stressful because the teachers didn’t know what to do. Everyone was still scared of COVID and was wearing masks, and plexiglass was on every desk. You could barely hear anyone. I’m glad it’s back to normal.”
by Rylie Beckham
"My mom went to a segregated school, you know, right here in Lancaster–that is not lost on me. People, especially your age and my age, seem to think that the woes of slavery and Jim Crow and things of that nature were a long time ago. So, really hearing her story, my grandmother’s story about having to go to school where people called her names and spit on her,iIt means a lot to me. First off Black History Month was founded by one of my fraternity members, Carter G Woodson, and its purpose was to make sure people don't forget the contributions Black people made to society. Honestly it's just a continuation of that legacy for me; just making sure that Americans just don't forget just how much Black people have contributed to American society. Celebrating Black History Month is celebrating America in my opinion. It's just taking an opportunity to look at a group of people and how they have helped to make America what it is. I think that should be celebrated by all. It's not to say that one is better than the other or that one group deserves a month where another one doesn’t. It's just an opportunity for us to appreciate what a group of people has done for us as a country. "
by Braxton Rollyson
“It's important to recognize Black History Month. Oftentimes we can forget that this country’s influence on Black African Americans has been strong. African Americans were taken from a place they knew, a place where they called home and brought here and the country was sort of built. You know if we didn’t have Black people, if my ancestors didn’t pick cotton in the fields or harvest the crops, then what would we have had?”
“Black History Month is important–To acknowledge those who have put their life and those who continue to put their life in danger; those who put their life in the forefront for the country that we live in, that's a great come to regardless of everything that goes on in the daily life.”
“When we think of Harriet Tubman, she wasn’t the only one, but those during that time that led people to freedom and then we think in terms of Martin Luther King Jr. how he led the next generation through some of the darkest times that America has seen with the Civil Rights movement and everything that was going on, and then we look at current day figures like Barack Obama. Regardless of how you view and how you think of him, it’s the challenges that he has gone through and it’s the places that he’s brought us to be able to say we had a Black president is a good thing. We shouldn't put politics before that to say that we’re progressing is the biggest thing and that shows that we’re going on the right track instead of going in the wrong direction.”
“My mom growing up always taught us to have adversity and to work hard for what we do in life, and as I got older, people like famous chord conductor Andre Thomas started to become prominent in my life, as he is in our encore world, our guy that’s African American. He teaches how to pour your heart and soul into everything you do as a chorus conductor, but not only as a encore conductor, but as a person.”
“Skin color is just a pigmentation; it’s not that I just woke up one day and was like, ‘Wow, my skin colors darker.’ So me, my students, we are all one. We are all brothers and sisters in whatever regard that you believe, whatever religion you believe, we are all brothers and sisters Oftentimes we can let skin color get in the way of things, you know, 'You’re white; you can’t do this’ or ‘You’re Black; you can’t do that.’ It’s just simply not true .Even in music when we look at a lot of people and go, ‘You can sing classical music’ they automatically think that I would sing gospel or rap or hip-hop. No, I’m well rounded.I can do multiple things just as you know white Americans can sing classical music that’s from Europe as well. We all can do multiple things. We’re all talented. We all have the capabilities and so I try to inspire my kids that sometimes you have to look past the color of someone’s skin and that’s it’s all about– What’s in the heart.”
by Michael Escamilla
“I became an art teacher way later in life, so I didn’t come out of college going, ‘Oh I’m going to be an art teacher!’ I came out of college going, ‘I’m going to be a famous artist!’ That doesn’t happen, I’m afraid. It takes luck and a lot of work. Over the years I’ve done many things, I’ve been a photographer, a makeup artist, I worked for the first company in the U.S. to do Henna tattoos as a service, and that’s given me a lot of opportunities to go a lot of places and do a lot of different things. In the end, I really just want to create art and share my love of art with younger people. I have been a teacher at Buford for one year. The main determining factor was that I would finally be in the same district as my husband. He teaches at the career center, and so last year I was at a different school, he was at Lancaster Country, and then our son went to another school. So we had to keep up with three school schedules that were all different, and that was really a point where we decided we needed to try to come together. Buford actually reached out to me, before I interviewed, and when I came in it was funny because I didn’t need a job and I wasn’t looking for a job at the time, so I was just straight-up me. Fortunately, they liked me, so that was good! Now I’m here, so now we just have to deal with our schedule and my son's schedule, it’s much easier. My favorite part about teaching here so far is that I find that most people are very receptive to the arts and are interested in what we’re doing, and seeing the things that we’re creating, so that always helps and it’s a boost. The challenging thing is when you’re the new kid, always having to… y’know, learn new people. Every school’s different and this school is different from the school I was at last year. Classes were larger, and it’s just getting to know everybody and letting them get to know you. My favorite project with students was last year: We had a lot of fun with InkTober, which is a challenge in October where you draw with just ink and black and white, there were a lot of fun things that came out of it, and personally, I feel like a lot of my drawings were interesting and leveled up, so that felt good. Right now, I’m painting a mural in the classroom, and it is based on a painting by the artist Peter Max, he was a psychedelic painter in the 60s. He’s still around, but right now his whole body of work is embroiled in scandal because he has Alzheimer’s and so it’s, ‘are the people around him taking care of his estate and work and keeping his best interest in mind or are they taking care of themselves?’, which is really an unfortunate situation, but his work is so colorful and inspiring that I thought it would be a really nice piece of eye candy to have in the classroom.”
by Rylie Beckham
“Alyssa Richards. She's taught me how to boost my self-esteem. She's gotten me through a lot of hard times when I was bullied. A lot. She's made me feel better about myself. She´ll sit down, actually, and listen to me and talk me through stuff when I don't know where to go, and I'm really grateful to her for that. Her, along with writing and journaling. Actually, my dream career when I leave high school, as of right now, is to become an author. I'm writing my own novels, which I hope to actually get published when I graduate. The novels are a mix of different things. Some are about real world experiences, like what teenagers go through, like hardships and stuff like that. Some of them are actually like gunpowder stories. I really get a lot of my emotions out through writing, journaling, music and creating poetry.”
by Emmie Johnson
"To Them I would say, it does get better. For me, all through the majority of middle school and a few years in elementary school, it was at an all-time low, but I feel like eventually, it does get better. Whenever we cheer at the football games and at the basketball games, I feel like it takes a lot of confidence to actually do because there’s so many people there and if you mess up everyone's gonna see you. But I think if you're able to ignore it and cheer, you'll just have so much more fun and I think it boosted my self-confidence a lot in a good way. I would say just have positive people around you. Because I feel if there is a positive environment everywhere you're going, then there’s really no reason to look at someone and be like, 'well they've probably said this about me or they think this about me.' I feel if you're surrounding yourself with people that are building you up, then the people that are trying to build you down, they’re not gonna be able to do that because there's too many positive people around you. If you have just had those good people around you all the time I genuinely think your self-confidence will grow."
by Braxton Rollyson
“I feel like I’m gonna be the first person to crash in his entire career. The first thing I’ll do is probably run a stop sign. I’ve done that before... I don’t pay enough attention to road signs... I’m in Driver’s Ed. I like learning about the laws of the road. It's very interesting, but also kind of hard. Some don’t make that much sense to me, but I like knowing about them. It also makes me nervous. I’m very worried about crashing, it just stresses me out. I’m pretty excited about driving even though I feel like I’m gonna crash. I’m mostly excited just to get it over with and get my license. Driver’s Ed is in the library right now because we have students driving, he takes two out to drive and the rest go to the library to basically chill until it’s our turn. Being in here is very calming, I get to read. I’m reading ‘Archenemies’ by Marissa Meyer. It's about superheroes and supervillains. It’s the second book of the series, the main characters are Nova, who's a supervillain, and Adrian, who's a superhero. They’re archenemies going against each other. The first book was ‘Renegades’ which was about their meeting, and about their backstories. I like reading because it’s a good distraction. If I’m not reading I’m probably doing nothing or playing video games. Reading is my hobby.”
by Rylie Beckham
“I’d have to say Driver’s Ed is my easiest class. Most of the stuff is just common sense, but I think driving with the instructor makes me nervous. I’m scared he might yell at me. I’m excited to get my license, I’ll be able to drive to concerts and drive around with my friends. My hardest class is probably Geometry. It’s just… letters and numbers together don’t mix, y’know? I’m good at math, but it really depends on certain things.”
by Rylie Beckham
“Well, this is my 40th year teaching, so I think it’s about time and I’ve enjoyed all of it. It’s been great, but I’m ready to move on to something else. I will be helping to coach soccer at USC-L. Just the people, all the teachers I’ve met, all the students here at Buford, everybody’s like a family here. Been here 10 years, enjoyed all of it. I’ll miss coming in each day and all the different things that go on. It’s been a lot of fun, but I’ll definitely miss some of it for sure.”
by Robbie Young
“Right now, I have multiple hard classes but I think that my college class is going to be the hardest, which is Psychology/Criminal Justice 101. I think that's gonna be the hardest because it has to do with a lot of thinking and going into deep conversations. And sometimes that's hard for me because going into it is a little different I guess, but it's also because of the words there are, because we have these crosswords and stuff like that for them, and I'm not really good at crosswords. Psychology is hard because it's not just thinking about what people think, it’s why their brain thinks that and what behaviors you can predict from what you've learned from them. And I'm not interested in doing anything in the future with Psychology, it's just that it'll count for my history credit for this year instead of taking a history class.
What I want to do in the future is become a veterinarian, and that has to do with a lot of schooling and stuff. That's gonna take a long time to complete so I'm gonna try to stay on top of everything this year and make high grades. I want to be a veterinarian because I've always liked being with animals and liked having them as pets, but whenever they were hurt, it would really have an effect on me and I would just want to help. But I don’t really know how to help, so it makes me want to learn about how I can. I haven’t had a pet seriously hurt, but seeing other people's pets like that has a big effect on me. I guess I want to help families and help them deal with situations with their pets.”
by Rylie Beckham
"Practically noon. I always see the view of the sky as a culture and normally that’s also when I take my daily naps because that’s when I get home and that’s when I feel most energetic. I get some stuff done, I get side tracked very easily, because of that, since I have my own area where I do my work, which is not my room, there’s usually a lot of stuff where I can get side tracked. Puzzles. I always had this thing for puzzles and I would get a puzzle and I would put it together, and I would time myself each time how many days it took me to finish the puzzle. Then I would get a frame and actually frame the puzzle. From the last time I counted, I think it was a total of Eleven. Normally it would be like 500, but recently it's been up to 750. The highest puzzle I've ever done was 1500. I used to feel like I was the only one who actually was into that stuff because puzzles are for people who are like wizards and math wizards, which I am not. Puzzles are just like something I am genuinely good at because you see a picture and you put that picture together. My friend would often come over and check on the puzzle I was doing because we were like opposites, yet the same. I actually wrote a poem about that one time. I put together different things that are completely opposite. And at the end I said “And that is what makes us best friends.” Just like the sun and moon and things that are totally different. Yes, because I was always different from everybody else. "
by Cheyenne Cannon
"Probably failing one of my classes just because I try to work hard with just my stuff, but I can just stop. I lose motivation very quickly. So I can be completely fine working on assignments, but the second I get tired of it, I will just stop working on it. I just really don't want that to happen because of my classes; it'll show pretty quickly in my grades. My goal for this year is to have high grades, so I really want that. My hardest is probably Journalism, not because I think it's hard, but because I’m not a very social person. When it comes to the interview parts, I’m a little bit worried about that. The thing that eases my mind about that is for interviews, it's usually the other person talking more. But I'm still a little nervous. Probably just like getting into the mindset of “this needs to be done now '' so that I don't start slacking off, because if I start getting to where I'm not finishing something till right before the class, it'll just get worse. I'm going to remind myself to stay on top of it."
by Kaylee Snipes
"Anytime we go on vacation has been some of the happiest points in my life. We went on a Disney Cruise and other than a couple of times in that trip, it was pretty amazing. And when they left me to go drinking, that was fun. Spilled ice cream all over myself. My parents always had a great impact on me, considering I'm an only child. I probably owe everything to them. Growing up, my dad always forced me to listen to classic rock radio. And that pretty much impacted what I listened to now. My mom always encouraged me to like what I like, so if I like it then she learns about it, and she'll run through everything with me. I have six grandparents, four of them have already passed away. My mom's mother, yea we used to spend everyday with each other. I really miss having her around and having someone that I can talk to and be with. I also feel like we would drift apart over time. She got me started on most of the things I love today. "
by Taylor Greene