The work's too hard to do alone. You know, you could be an awesome
teacher, and you could be the awesome teacher in
your building and you're gonna burn out after a while unless you have colleagues who
are like-minded and who care as much about you as they
do about their kids so that the work can be sustained. So it's
important to have a faculty culture where people feel, again,
that they can be their full selves, that they
are cared for, that they matter as much
as the kids matter so that they can keep giving to
the kids, because the kids need us to give.
When I came to Casco, I was kind of surprised how
an open hand was reached out to me
and I would just able to grab it so easily. School's supposed to
make you feel safe. You're supposed to be an environment where it's comfortable. You're supposed
to, you know, have friends that guide you along the way. You're supposed
to have teachers that make learning fun. I think it's difficult to
learn if you don't feel accepted. I think that
I agree that I do feel more seen by teachers here and I
think that
if you don't feel comfortable, you're gonna focus on what's making
you uncomfortable rather than trying to learn. One
of the easiest ways to make people feel, or not necessarily easiest,
but one of the simplest ways to make people feel comfortable is to accept them.
As kids, we just want to be seen. We want to be heard.
We want to feel like we have a voice and like we can
put that voice out there. I think it's really easy for youth to
feel kind of invisible and like they're being
shut down by older more important voices.
I believe there's a lot of room here.
It's like an abundance of room getting
to know people on a deeper level.
We need to authentically build real relationships with
these young people, like truly. You know,
I think that we say that a lot, but I think that means a lot
of time spent a lot of time spent, doing real things. Relationships
happen through working together. So I
think we're trying to build common experiences that we
live through together.
I think teachers connecting with
students in that deep way, like them really making an effort
to truly understand you,
feels kind of like a weight off
the shoulders. Because I think, I mean, teenagers go
through a lot, whether we want to accept it or not. And
it can be a massive burden when
you don't feel like you are understood. Imagine being
17 today and knowing that the
Earth is having the crisis that it's having, and what
your future holds, you know. So that's a big burden on
a school building to figure out how do we
if people are walking in the door with those burdens and those
weights, how do we help them
to then feel like they can be themselves here? And
can want to pursue and want to
engage and feel like their work matters?
When the teacher tries to know you personally and
connect with you on a deeper level, they will not forget details
about your life. They will ask you stuff. They will
give and take in the conversation. Just
little threads that keep us connected.
The work has to be authentic and real as well. And matter
in the world and matter to them, because they'll know, right? They
know whether it's real or not. And I
think if we can design curriculum that feels like it is about the issues,
the very issues that are the burdens, then we're
naming it and then we're critically analyzing
and thinking about ways to address them.
Right? And so then there's a little
piece of empowerment there. And I think there's a real value
in that kind of
collectivist approach that our entire class is worrying
about climate change. Our entire class is working about, you
know, racial justice or whatever the
particular focus of the expedition is. But all of us
are in this together, and and as a collective, we can
do cool stuff. We can move mountains. We can make an impact.
For a long time, equality has been the word that we've kind
of been focused around and I've always found that it's
like equity is that magic word, because students, you know,
know,
we can't all be equal. That's not how it should act. I'm on
a different level than pretty much all of my peers. We should not
all be receiving the same support. We should be receiving support
and encouragement and love and everything that
is right for us. I feel like more schools need
to realize that you're more than just a student who has
a pencil and a paper. You're an actual person. You
have actual ideas to, like, change the world, and this school takes
advantage of that and, like, really implements that.
I have the greatest job on the planet. I really
do. It is the greatest thing to know that I'm
helping young people grow. And I
get to watch it and that I'm a part of
equity, right, I'm a part of equity work.
But to know that I'm a part of helping all people
to grow and learn regardless of who they
are, I can figure it out. At least
that's my goal. I might not, you know.
None of us gets it right, entirely, right. But
I get to be a part of trying. I get to be a part
of that process and I get to see it. I watch it.
It's amazing.