Student Nomination Story

Why in the world would someone take an advanced speech class if their biggest fear was giving a speech? The answer: Mrs. Markano. On the first day of my senior year at Arrowhead High School, I walked into speech class. I saw a 5’0” blonde hair woman greeting students with a warm smile. It’s unnatural to be as happy as she looked at school that early in the morning. But I didn’t mind. It put a smile on my face. As I looked around, I didn’t recognize a single face. That was when I knew it was going to be a stressful and exhausting class. The first speech Mrs. Markano assigned was a speech about ourselves. We had to bring in three objects that represented us. As other people gave their speeches, my stomach grew butterflies, my heart began to race, and my mind started to spin. Then, I heard what I dreaded: “Lauren, it’s your turn.” I started to panic. Sweating, my hands shook…what a great start to my senior year! I walked up to the front of the room moving at the speed of a sloth. I got to front, turning to see eyes locked on me. Don’t embarrass yourself and you suck at giving speeches raced through my head. I looked at Mrs. Markano and she looked back at me with a smile. She threw up two thumbs. I knew she noticed my nervousness, but just the small gesture allowed me to start my speech. She knew exactly how to calm me down. I opened my mouth and began speaking. My voice trembled as I held up my first two items. When I picked up my last item, a cow stuffed animal, I was beyond nervous. This caused my hands to squeeze the cow and an unexpected loud “MOOOO” emerged from the stuffed animal. A tide of red flowed over my face. I just failed my first speech. I looked up to see Mrs. Markano’s reaction expecting her to be mad, but instead I saw her rolling, laughing. I shook it off and continued hoping she wasn’t going to downgrade me. After what felt like hours, I finished my speech. I remember her exact feedback: “You are so cute. I loved it. You were a little nervous, but I promise, we’ll fix that by the end of the semester.” When she gave me my rubric back, I looked at the bottom: 98%. I went to talk to her after class to discuss my grade because I was shocked I got close to a perfect score. Mrs. Markano explained what happened in my speech was unpreventable and there’s ultimately one disaster bound to happen in every speech. She was like Cindy Lou after the Grinch stole Christmas. Maybe this class won’t be that bad after all. Mrs. Markano gave a variety of speech assignments: persuasive, informative, sales, and many others. But she would let us choose the topic. At first, I hated it was general and we weren’t given a specific topic, but I realized she did that so we were passionate about every single speech. I would run my ideas past her to make sure I was on the right path and she gave positive feedback, boosting my confidence. She cared about our takes and opinions on different topics and kept an open mind. She would never tell anyone they were wrong, but instead she looked at their point of view. Knowing she wanted to hear what I thought made it so much easier to get up in front of an audience and share my voice. Mrs. Markano taught me how to write speeches the right way. She taught me not only that, but how to have platform movement and use gestures. She would show how professionals would use gestures and would overreact on hand movements. The whole class would laugh at her, but she didn’t care. It was her way of getting the point across and it worked. Next thing I knew, my hands were flying and it truly made my speech better. Whether a student was a visual learner, auditory learner, or hands-on learner, Mrs. Markano hit every learning style so no one was left confused or lost. As the semester went on, I became more and more comfortable at the front of the room. At the beginning of the year, I chose to go on the last day so I could wait until the last minute. But as the semester passed, I began to choose to go on the first day (I wasn’t afraid anymore). I was astonished that one teacher could help me face one of my biggest fears and help me to reach my goals in life. I realized then that fear is just a thought and something in my way. One of the last speeches assigned was an inspirational speech. I knew what I was going to give mine on: taking risks. I chose this topic because I took a risk and took advanced speech class even when everyone told me I was crazy for thinking I could survive. But I’m so glad I took it because I conquered my glossophobia and I survived with the help of Mrs. Markano. I used to hate giving speeches but her big smile and positive attitude made it fun. She believed in me and helped me grow not only as a speaker but as a person and that is why she is my favorite educator.

Lauren McDonald

Freshman year during study hall, I was doing my homework while I waited for the bell to ring, excited for the end of the school day. While doing homework, I heard the phone ring. Most of the time, the calls do not have to do with me, but this one did. The secretary on the phone asked me to go to the counseling office. One-hundred things started to run through my head: what now? Am I in trouble? Did I do something wrong? When I walked into Mrs. Brinckman’s office, I began to tense up, and hold my breath. She greeted me with a smile, “Hello, please take a seat.” She was welcoming, genuine, and understanding. She had mid-length blond hair and a nice, big smile. Mrs. Brinckman was the psychologist of Arrowhead Union High School. When I sat down, she told me someone talked to her about how I’ve been feeling lately. I only had a few friends at the time and I would share about how I’m feeling with them. One of my friends told Mrs. Brinckman about the conversations we had that concerned them, which resulted in the phone call to the study hall. I was upset at first, but now, I’m glad she did because I was able to meet up with Mrs. Brinckman and talk to her about how I’m feeling. She helped me better understand my mental illnesses (depression and anxiety). I would also talk with her about my depression and how I felt about it. She would talk me through it and try to explain to me what depression and anxiety was and what happens in the brain when you have it, which was helpful and beneficial to me. I felt more comfortable with talking to people about how I feel, and I was glad that I knew someone that could help me get better. Now that I understand my mental illness more, I was able to come up with solutions as to how I can cope with it. One of the main questions was whether having depression was normal. She told me it wasn’t and it would help if I did counseling weekly and took medicine to help with it. Eventually I started to go to counseling once a month and took a medication daily, it ended up benefiting me and helping me feel better about myself. By the time the bell rang, getting ready to head out the door, she said, “You can always stop by if there’s anything you want to talk about.” It was nice to see that someone cared, but did she really? She had me come into her office once a week to talk to her about how things are going and if anything has gotten better. She was like a second mother. I began to feel that she did care, and it was nice to get some things off my chest. Thank you, Mrs. Brinckman for being there for me, thank you for helping me get better, and thank you for helping me understand myself more.

Marissa Loniello

We met early September of 2018. The morning brought a sour, nervous stomach and an outfit mottled with diluted droplets of coffee. My angry hair sought vengeance after struggling through the heat of a flat iron. It was the makings of a disheveled, moody teenager—an antagonist with an obese backpack strapped to her body. It was the first hour of the first day of my last year at Arrowhead High School. To begin, know that getting students’ attention before the sun rises isn’t easy. It is like trying to get a fat-bellied tortoise’s attention; the teacher stands meters away waving a piece of fresh kale. They are stuffed with stimuli, packed with caffeine, conversations, and first-day jitters. These tortoises want to sleep, rest, and digest. The last thing on their minds is writing creatively. No matter, Elizabeth Jorgensen of Arrowhead High School managed to inspire me, the disheveled, moody teenager. At that time, I didn’t know what was going to happen over the course of the semester in Creative Writing. I entered the classroom looking for an English credit, yet I left craving more. Writing was the kale and I was an emaciated tortoise–determined, trained, and excited. Since then, I have began an Arrowhead Independent Study titled Writing for Authentic Purposes. Ms. Jorgensen took her time to create the class, mold it to my schedule, and develop a plan for another semester of writing. Secondly, Ms. Jorgensen introduced me to the Arrowhead Literary Magazine. Now, I am one of its editors. Overall, she is passionate, supportive and helps me achieve the goals I set for myself. Ms. Jorgensen devotes her time to language arts. She is a published journalist, yet her dedication and passion does not stop there. She writes a blog for Marquette University and she’s presented for the National Council of Teachers of English. Currently, she is working on a novel of her own. It is due in October from Meyer & Meyer Sport. As her student, I can also speak on behalf of her utter devotion to her work. Time and time again, she uses her enthusiasm to inspire students—to inspire me. Ms. Jorgensen is supportive. She provides straightforward feedback and encourages ideas. For example, Ms. Jorgensen told students to pursue ideas they would have otherwise left alone. “Just because an idea is peculiar or foreign does not mean it’s unworthy of a story,” she said. On many occasions, I think back to Ms. Jorgensen’s first hour Creative Writing class. It is where she supported each student’s stories and pushed students towards purely creative writing. As a result, Ms. Jorgensen single handedly tore down the rules and regulations of bland and distasteful writing. She gave students opportunities to create artwork that went beyond the laws of systematic, scientific articles and mathematical equations. Ms. Jorgensen showed each student the capabilities of his or her own unique writing styles. She gently guided us to our own individual voices. Know that getting students’ attention before the sun rises isn’t easy. It’s like trying to get a fat-bellied tortoise’s attention. But Elizabeth Jorgensen managed to do that—and so much more.

Nicole Larson

We met early September of 2018. The morning brought a sour, nervous stomach and an outfit mottled with diluted droplets of coffee. My angry hair sought vengeance after struggling through the heat of a flat iron. It was the makings of a disheveled, moody teenager—an antagonist with an obese backpack strapped to her body. It was the first hour of the first day of my last year at Arrowhead High School. To begin, know that getting students’ attention before the sun rises isn’t easy. It is like trying to get a fat-bellied tortoise’s attention; the teacher stands meters away waving a piece of fresh kale. They are stuffed with stimuli, packed with caffeine, conversations, and first-day jitters. These tortoises want to sleep, rest, and digest. The last thing on their minds is writing creatively. No matter, Elizabeth Jorgensen of Arrowhead High School managed to inspire me, the disheveled, moody teenager. At that time, I didn’t know what was going to happen over the course of the semester in Creative Writing. I entered the classroom looking for an English credit, yet I left craving more. Writing was the kale and I was an emaciated tortoise–determined, trained, and excited. Since then, I have began an Arrowhead Independent Study titled Writing for Authentic Purposes. Ms. Jorgensen took her time to create the class, mold it to my schedule, and develop a plan for another semester of writing. Secondly, Ms. Jorgensen introduced me to the Arrowhead Literary Magazine. Now, I am one of its editors. Overall, she is passionate, supportive and helps me achieve the goals I set for myself. Ms. Jorgensen devotes her time to language arts. She is a published journalist, yet her dedication and passion does not stop there. She writes a blog for Marquette University and she’s presented for the National Council of Teachers of English. Currently, she is working on a novel of her own. It is due in October from Meyer & Meyer Sport. As her student, I can also speak on behalf of her utter devotion to her work. Time and time again, she uses her enthusiasm to inspire students—to inspire me. Ms. Jorgensen is supportive. She provides straightforward feedback and encourages ideas. For example, Ms. Jorgensen told students to pursue ideas they would have otherwise left alone. “Just because an idea is peculiar or foreign does not mean it’s unworthy of a story,” she said. On many occasions, I think back to Ms. Jorgensen’s first hour Creative Writing class. It is where she supported each student’s stories and pushed students towards purely creative writing. As a result, Ms. Jorgensen single handedly tore down the rules and regulations of bland and distasteful writing. She gave students opportunities to create artwork that went beyond the laws of systematic, scientific articles and mathematical equations. Ms. Jorgensen showed each student the capabilities of his or her own unique writing styles. She gently guided us to our own individual voices. Know that getting students’ attention before the sun rises isn’t easy. It’s like trying to get a fat-bellied tortoise’s attention. But Elizabeth Jorgensen managed to do that—and so much more.

Nicole Larson

Ms.Jorgensen Dear Ms.Jorgensen, when we first met in summer school, I was expecting to walk into the room with some cranky teacher who was upset that she had to stay at school for the summer to teach the kids who couldn’t pass. But you were so nice, right off the bat you were different from all the other teachers. It was my first time taking classes at North Campus, so I had no idea of what to expect from the teachers. As soon as we walked into your class and the bell rang you introduced yourself. We just came from biology class, and needless to say the teacher was not happy about staying in school for the summer. And he really wasn’t happy that he was staying to teach a group of kids who couldn’t pass basic biology. But when we got to your room, you were super nice, and a lot different from the teacher we were just with. In our class there was only five of us, so we all got to know each other really quickly, I already knew Amber and Xander, and I already forgot the other kids names. But when we were in your class, we didn’t really care about how popular everyone was, or which groups we belonged to, we were all learning, and having a good time with it. On our first day there, we did the “My Name Means” poems, I thought it was kind of stupid at first, but it was pretty fun at the end of it. I couldn’t believe how calm you were about Xander’s poem and how bad it was. He showed me the poem before he read it outloud and I was just waiting for him to hear all the things wrong with it, but you somehow managed to compliment him on certains parts of the poem. I’ve never seen a teacher who was able to see the good in everything, that was insane to me. You made those few weeks of summer school really enjoyable and actually useful. As the summer school went on, I managed to learn a lot about writing, but also a lot about myself. I learned I really liked writing, and it's something I want to pursue as a possible career thanks to your help and encouragement. I don’t think any other teacher I’ve had would have actually motivated me like you did. While teachers have been nice, no one ever went out of their way like you did. In classes, when you turn in your piece, they just make the corrections and send it back, but you added your opinions. I was totally caught off-guard when you made your first comment on one of my documents. It was the first time I saw a comment on my work that wasn’t a correction, it was a compliment. You were actually acknowledging that something was good, it seems like a minute detail, something all teachers do. But just small compliments help a lot, I don’t think most teachers know how much just being nice can help. After that writing wasn’t a task I had to complete, it was something I couldn't even stop. As soon as I started typing or writing with my pencil, I didn’t even know when to end it, I just wanted to keep going until I ran out of space. Just being nice goes a long way for some people. And that’s why I chose you, because even if you didn’t really know it, you were making a huge difference. When a teacher takes off the mask of just being someone who teaches, and shows that they actually care and want you to succeed, it can change someone's entire outlook on the subject they teach and school in general. Trey Arndorfer

Trey Arndorfer

To see more exceptional teacher nominees, visit The Honor Roll.