WEBVTT - This file was automatically generated by VIMEO

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The work's too hard to do alone. You know, you could be an awesome

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teacher, and you could be the awesome teacher in

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your building and you're gonna burn out after a while unless you have colleagues who

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are like-minded and who care as much about you as they

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do about their kids so that the work can be sustained. So it's

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important to have a faculty culture where people feel, again,

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that they can be their full selves, that they

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are cared for, that they matter as much

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as the kids matter so that they can keep giving to

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the kids, because the kids need us to give.

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When I came to Casco, I was kind of surprised how

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an open hand was reached out to me

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and I would just able to grab it so easily. School's supposed to

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make you feel safe. You're supposed to be an environment where it's comfortable. You're supposed

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to, you know, have friends that guide you along the way. You're supposed

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to have teachers that make learning fun.
I think it's difficult to

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learn if you don't feel accepted. I think that

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I agree that I do feel more seen by teachers here and I

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think that

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if you don't feel comfortable, you're gonna focus on what's making

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you uncomfortable rather than trying to learn. One

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of the easiest ways to make people feel, or not necessarily easiest,

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but one of the simplest ways to make people feel comfortable is to accept them.

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As kids, we just want to be seen. We want to be heard.

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We want to feel like we have a voice and like we can

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put that voice out there. I think it's really easy for youth to

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feel kind of invisible and like they're being

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shut down by older more important voices.

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I believe there's a lot of room here.

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It's like an abundance of room getting

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to know people on a deeper level.

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We need to authentically build real relationships with

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these young people, like truly. You know,

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I think that we say that a lot, but I think that means a lot

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of time spent a lot of time spent, doing real things. Relationships

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happen through working together. So I

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think we're trying to build common experiences that we

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live through together.

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I think teachers connecting with

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students in that deep way, like them really making an effort

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to truly understand you,

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feels kind of like a weight off

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the shoulders. Because I think, I mean, teenagers go

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through a lot, whether we want to accept it or not. And

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it can be a massive burden when

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you don't feel like you are understood. Imagine being

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17 today and knowing that the

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Earth is having the crisis that it's having, and what

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your future holds, you know. So that's a big burden on

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a school building to figure out how do we

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if people are walking in the door with those burdens and those

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weights, how do we help them

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to then feel like they can be themselves here? And

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can want to pursue and want to

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engage and feel like their work matters?

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When the teacher tries to know you personally and

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connect with you on a deeper level, they will not forget details

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about your life. They will ask you stuff. They will

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give and take in the conversation. Just

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little threads that keep us connected.

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The work has to be authentic and real as well. And matter

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in the world and matter to them, because they'll know, right? They

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know whether it's real or not. And I

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think if we can design curriculum that feels like it is about the issues,

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the very issues that are the burdens, then we're

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naming it and then we're critically analyzing

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and thinking about ways to address them.

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Right? And so then there's a little

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piece of empowerment there.
And I think there's a real value

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in that kind of

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collectivist approach that our entire class is worrying

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about climate change. Our entire class is working about, you

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know, racial justice or whatever the

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particular focus of the expedition is. But all of us

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are in this together, and and as a collective, we can

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do cool stuff. We can move mountains. We can make an impact.

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For a long time, equality has been the word that we've kind

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of been focused around and I've always found that it's

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like equity is that magic word, because students, you know,

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know,

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we can't all be equal. That's not how it should act. I'm on

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a different level than pretty much all of my peers. We should not

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all be receiving the same support. We should be receiving support

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and encouragement and love and everything that

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is right for us.
I feel like more schools need

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to realize that you're more than just a student who has

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a pencil and a paper. You're an actual person. You

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have actual ideas to, like, change the world, and this school takes

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advantage of that and, like, really implements that.

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I have the greatest job on the planet. I really

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do. It is the greatest thing to know that I'm

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helping young people grow. And I

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get to watch it and that I'm a part of

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equity, right, I'm a part of equity work.

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But to know that I'm a part of helping all people

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to grow and learn regardless of who they

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are, I can figure it out. At least

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that's my goal. I might not, you know.

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None of us gets it right, entirely, right. But

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I get to be a part of trying. I get to be a part

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of that process and I get to see it. I watch it.

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It's amazing.