Zoe is a senior at Weber High School, HOSA State Officer, and someone who regularly launches herself and her snowboard off vertical cliffs. Oh, and as a CNA, she regularly does things that would terrify most of us: she bathes and genuinely cares for the many feeble geriatrics that can no longer care for themselves at the George Wahlen Veterans Home.
“I truly believed that my GPA determined who I was and if I’d be successful.”
“Going into my junior year,” Zoe said, “I signed up for a lot of hard classes that would push me to my limit. But one class had me most worried. That class was English 2015. I had heard stories from some of my senior friends that [the teacher] was very strict… and I had a 4.0 GPA that I was determined to keep.” Zoe felt as if her teacher was an obstacle for her to overcome, and she wasn’t going to let her drag her GPA down.
At first, she was everything Zoe expected her to be: long lectures, thick homework packets, and exhaustive essay assignments. As the semester went on, Zoe found The Only Us Initiative and decided she’d try something new and talk to and understand her teacher instead of shying away from her. As she kept experimenting, she noticed positive results. “I actually started to appreciate her and the class. The things she would do that would’ve normally bugged me actually made me laugh.”
This newfound appreciation led Zoe to do something that not even a few weeks before was unthinkable: approach her teacher for advice and essay revisions for a competition she was attending. One day Zoe asked her teacher if she would chaperone her to the competition if she bought her lunch which the teacher readily agreed to with a smile and laugh. “I was surprised when she was very vulnerable with me and I found out that we have a lot in common.”
After a few long discussions with her English teacher and one too many all-nighters, Zoe’s GPA dropped, however, she was fine with it. “I truly believed that my GPA determined who I was and if I’d be successful. She helped me see that I was just fine and it actually took away some pressure I put on myself. I’m grateful for that experience and she really showed me what a great teacher is.” Through a few conversations driven by a want to understand her better, Zoe was able to turn her ‘teacher from Hell’ into her friend and mentor. A “them” into an “us”.