Great Stories

“As I was saying goodbye to the students at the door I ran into one of my favorite students that had dropped from our program. It was a rare moment of relief and excitement for me. I tried to keep in touch with her as much as possible after she dropped---most times not getting a response. Sometimes it's hard not to take that personally seeing the relationship we had. She was one of the first students that immediately enjoyed seeing me. I helped her out in class and kept up with her. It was tough to see her stop showing up because I know her potential and she’s such a smart girl. I think it’s hard when you are there for someone to listen, but can't seem to help them in any other way. When she saw me we hugged--a real hug. She was so happy to see me and when I told her that I was glad to see her back she said, ‘It’s because of you!’ This made me almost cry because I’m not sure I believe it---but the fact she thought of me in that way was so sweet. Even if I don’t see her again it was a sense of satisfaction that I haven't felt. Her light is so apparent to those around her, I just hope she sees it in herself.”   

“I have a student that has been getting into some trouble in school. I was meeting with him once a week and I felt like he was not liking me very much and he was not willing to talk to me about his behaviors. I had to email his mom on some academic concerns and she replied that day and she expressed how upset and worried she was about her son. I met with him that day and he still wouldn’t say much to me. Then one day I saw he was in ISS and I went to ask him what he did and he told me what happened. I looked right at him and I told him how upset and worried his mom was and he started to cry. He had felt so bad and he said he only gets into trouble to make people like him and so he can fit in. He and I talked and I had his mom come in to meet with me and I had her son with as well and I think the two of them just needed to know that they both care about each other and now things have turned around for him and his teachers have told me how great he has been in class. I am not sure I really did anything to help at all and they just needed to sit together and hear how each other felt and not they seem to understand each other and things are better for everyone!”   

“Since day one, I have been working with a student regarding his fear of asking questions in class. He is an ELL student, and while his communication skills are great, he is still growing in his ability to read and to identify his own emotions. We sat down during our fourth meeting and I brought with me an emotions worksheet. We spent the thirty minutes we have together coloring each emotion on the worksheet a different color, and explaining what each emotion means. On our next meeting, a week later, I asked him to identify on the sheet how asking questions in class made him feel. He was able to point to “embarrassed.” With this information, I was able to structure our further meetings around making him understand why he shouldn’t feel embarrassed to ask questions during class. I challenged him in our sixth week to ask a question, and when I came back for our next meeting, he had. This student now consistently says that asking questions in class is easy.”

“This April we held an event for students to write letters of hope and encouragement to people in the school and community. The idea stemmed from the movement of www.moreloveletters.com, where we would make creative letters, write an encouraging note inside, and then we would drop them in various places around the school for random students to find. A few weeks prior to the event, Netflix's original series "13 Reasons Why" was released, bringing attention to teen depression and suicide. One week before the event, a schoolwide project led to hundreds of posters being put up in the school- each one said anything a student wanted to write on it. Many of these had very honest and vulnerable accounts of students’ own pasts and pain. Having both of these happen before my event was actually really helpful because it helped people see and recognize that there are so many people around them who need encouragement and might just need to know that someone cares. So during the event, I had conversations with students about this, and then I also mentioned the posters when I was explaining the project. It was neat to see that some students wrote their letters to people who had written really honest posters, and then I delivered those letters anonymously to their lockers the next day. The turnout of the event was inspiring to see. All together we created 45 different letters that went around the school for someone to find randomly and receive a little encouragement and hope. In addition to that, I was able to have multiple conversations with students about mental health, depression, and my own experiences with losing a friend to suicide, which led to very beautiful honesty from the students that needs to happen to start helping people know that they are not alone. I believe this seemingly small actions spread hope and awareness, and they start impacting how society views and talks about these topics.”  

“I am currently working on a service project revolving around dental health. I have a student group that works with me on doing research and designing informational posters, handouts, and buttons. When we were first talking about doing this project I didn’t know if students would be interested in it since it revolved around doing a lot of research and the topic wasn’t the most exciting. I was pleasantly surprised at how many students were interested in doing the project, I was also really impressed at how eager the students were about doing the research. They all expressed topics that they were interested in and we let them just take it from there. I have had students approach me about going into the computer lab and doing research if they were caught up with their school work and many of the students got a lot of good information that they were excited about. It was especially great to see students who are not typically engaged in school get excited to participate. It was a good feeling to see the students get involved in a service project and show leadership.”  

"In preparation for Valentine's Day, my students researched the characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships and then launched their own awareness campaign to share what they had learned with others. They created materials to hand out to fellow students and other people [at their] community center. They also designed a bulletin board that is visible to the school and the community focusing on the phrase 'Love is…' As a part of this bulletin board, students went around the building describing their project and asking others what they thought love is and provided resources for people in unhealthy relationships. The bulletin board was complete by Valentine’s Day in time for the students to pass out Valentines they made with additional information about maintaining healthy relationships. In the discussion that followed their service project, the students remarked on how much they had learned about relationships and how this would empower them to inform more people in the future. The students said 'they really enjoyed going throughout the building and letting others know about their project and felt very proud of the work that they did.'"

“I began coaching freshmen girl's basketball this month, and the experience so far has been fantastic. Engaging students outside of the classroom in a way that I very much enjoy makes my experience that much better, and it's incredibly rewarding to recognize the changes in my students that I coach both in the classroom and on the court. Students that I have had a hard time connecting with in the classroom and during the school day have blossomed during basketball practice where they're allowed to push and shove me and goof around in a non-threatening environment. Coaching has also allowed me to watch some of my quiet students turn into vocal and exuberant, if sometimes misdirected, leaders. All in all, it has been an experience unlike any other.”   

“One of my students is the captain of the soccer team. Soccer is one of the big things that keeps him in school -- his attendance dramatically improved when the season started. I've made an effort to be at every game I can, and it's been so rewarding to see him grow as a leader both on and off the field. A couple days ago some of the other guys on the team were standing around in the hallway. I approached them with the ultimate goal of convincing them to go to class -- not always a well-received effort. I introduced myself and they all responded with, ‘Yeah, we know, you're at all the games!’ Now one of them and I are working on a physics project that incorporates soccer, and it’s rewarding to know that my presence at the games was noticed by the students, and appreciated, and now I have much deeper relationships my students.”   

“The first week of school, I met a student who was new to Murray Middle School. She was very shy and nervous to eat in the lunch room. Over the next week, I talked with her in and out of class and we connected. I asked her everyday if she wanted to eat lunch with me at a table at the lunch room and she always said no. One day I asked my supervisor, the AP, if we could eat lunch in her office. I thought the student needed a quiet place, the lunch room can be very overwhelming. We brought our lunches into the Assistant Principal’s office and she turned into an entirely different student. She was so talkative, relaxed, and ate all of her food. After lunch, we walked to her class together and she was so grateful. She told me she was so happy she had someone at school that cared about her, something she never had at her previous school. Since then, our relationship has grown and has made me so glad I am serving as a Promise Fellow this year.”