Observations From Below: When the Student is Ready, the Teacher will Appear

I had a whole other blog planned for this week, but my mom brought up an article from my college newspaper that I would like to add my two cents. My journalism teacher and long-time advisor to The Guilfordian, Jeff Jeske, is retiring after about 30 years. I’ve wanted to express my gratitude for a long time now, and since my college paper has written its article, I feel more comfortable in doing so publicly. It’s a good thing I have my own blog since I was not included in the piece. Jeff knows I’m long winded, so I probably wouldn’t have fit in the article, anyway. I told part of the story about how I came to the Guilfordian in my very first blog. Now I’m going to delve into more detail about that process from my point of view because I feel my experiences offer a lot of lessons for other teachers.

The fact is that I probably wouldn’t be writing today if it wasn’t for Jeff. I came to the paper lacking confidence as a writer because my high school journalism teacher told me that I physically would be unable to be a journalist. In contrast, Jeff could not have been more welcoming once I decided to become a part of the paper. At first, we discussed having an article similar to my high school column, in which I would write about life and my experiences of living with a disability on campus. Initially, I didn’t write many opinion columns because I wanted to prove to others that I can do real journalism. I finally took a leap of faith at the end of my sophomore year and signed up for the full experience of taking a journalism class.

One thing I learned about the paper when I first got there was that they weren’t going to treat me any differently than any other student, which was a great thing. I had just as many edits to do on my first article as any other student did, and that first night I stayed up late correcting my mistakes to the frustration of my grandparents. No one had ever asked me to edit my work before, so it was a new experience. Another thing that I learned very quickly was Jeff’s newspaper was a meritocracy, meaning the better a writer wrote, the more challenging the stories they could choose. By the end of my career, I was the top writer on the staff. I was assigned to cover the most important stories of that year, which happened to be the search for Guilford College’s 9th president.

Even when I was the top writer on the staff, Jeff always pushed me to excellence. If I messed up, he was not afraid to let me know about it, because he was aware that I could get more out of myself. A lot of my other teachers would not have pushed me in the same way, but instead, would judge me on my disability and make the assumption that my lower quality of work was the best I could produce.

Another lesson for teachers is that Jeff was supportive of me, and in return, he received my loyalty and hard work. In an episode which reminded me of my high school journalism teacher, my editor expressed doubt over my ability to do the job. The editor thought my assistant was writing my papers and assignments for me while simultaneously demeaning her intelligence, thus stifling any progression of working together harmoniously. Jeff spoke with that editor and actively took my side and advocated for me. Due to Jeff’s intervention, I ended up becoming friends with that editor and wound up working on many stories together successfully.

Perhaps the greatest lessons I learned from Jeff had nothing to do with journalism. It just so happened that we both would get to class early, engage in dialogue and eventually develop a deep relationship. I see no reason why other teachers can’t do the same thing to their students. Another way that Jeff and I deepened our relationship is by taking advantage of opportunities to get together outside of class. Jeff lived in my dorm, which allowed him to host students and to look over and give advice on their papers as an expert writer. As mentioned in my previous columns, I’m an overachiever, so, of course, I took advantage of his generous offer. Almost always, I was the only one who would show up to receive his wise guidance. These nights created less formal opportunities for us to talk about our lives together, not just academic topics. I learned a little bit about his family, and I shared some of my background with him, and in some ways we were similar.

The last and most important thing I learned from Jeff, is not to doubt myself so much. Whereas my high school teacher told me that I could not do journalism or advanced placement classes, Jeff allowed me to slowly add more and more responsibilities for myself. By the time I was done with the newspaper, I had many hats. In addition to being the top writer, I was also a very active diversity coordinator. I was in charge of making sure our paper had something in it pertaining to all communities. Before I got that position, it was a more passive role. Jeff enabled me to redefine and even rewrite the guidelines so my position could become a permanent fixture, even after I graduated.

I was only one of Jeff’s students. He had many throughout his three-decade tenure, and I’m sure we all had a unique relationship with him. Our newspaper was of poor quality when he first arrived. Now that he is leaving, The Guilfordian is a nationally recognized journal which has accrued numerous writing awards over the years. The newspaper won’t be the same without him, and neither will the school. On behalf of everyone, I want to thank him for his tireless dedication and wish him a happy retirement.