When the Student Becomes the Teacher

Valley residents know that when the winds of Wasilla blow through the

winter and the snow melts in the spring, we find our community inundated

by plastic bags, fast food containers, plastic bottles, and more. Like I’d

imagine most folks doing, I grumbled about the trashy state of affairs but

realized if this mess was to disappear I would have to be part of the

solution.

As the teacher of the Wasilla Next Step young adult transition program, I

have students who daily access community work training experiences to

develop employment skills. Part of our mission is to always think of,

“Others First” and improve our community through active citizenship.

While driving down Crusey Street in Wasilla, we noticed that the area

between the Public Library and Brett Ice Arena was especially cluttered

with all manner of material laying on the ground and wind deposited flags

of plastic hanging from the trees.

Our class brainstormed a project, acquired a pile of trash bags, and

grabbed our long handled garbage pickers. My five young adult men

students went to work. It took us a while to organize ourselves to cover

the ground in a grid pattern, but through the teaching-listening-doing

process we were rapidly filling our contractor grade trash bags. I was

feeling pretty good about myself and what I had done as a teacher

organizing and “running the show.” But, this day I became the student.

Perhaps the most visually offensive part of this littered landscape was the

large piece of red insulation wrap that was flying like a flag at the top of a

tall tree. As the project progressed I kept saying to myself and the work

crew that there was no way we’re going to get that down. “We’ll just have

to leave it.”

One student simply wouldn’t accept my futile statement and started

thinking. After scanning the forest, a downed tree was found. He used the

tree as a long pole to grab the edge of waving plastic but could not get it

to release. The other students were watching and one by one they

contributed to the effort. My strong man went over and used his size and

strength to help pull it down. My tall man reached up and with his

fingertips grasped the corner while everyone else pitched in to carefully lift

and unwind the plastic from the treetop.

The one student who had vision and believed in the solution started

something powerful. He reached for the tree tops, he turned the eyes of

his companions skyward, and pretty soon a group of people were working

together making our community a better place. The student had become

the teacher and this was one of the most rewarding days of my career.

Ray Hafen is a teacher at Wasilla Next Step