A Breath of Fresh, African Air: When Former Students Come to Visit

Last Wednesday was just the best day.  The BEST!  It was Hannah Day.

I feel so absolutely blessed and proud and humbled all at once to have taught this kid, and now she's not a kid anymore.

So, back in the summer (after I returned from my awesome whirlwind of PD and travel), I got this message via G-chat:


Hannah Koeppl

Salut Mlle G!

Erin Gibbons

Salut!

Ça va?

Hannah Koeppl

Bad news... I have been removed from Guinea for sometime a cause d'ebola. :(

Erin Gibbons

Oh! Where are you?

In the States?

Hannah Koeppl

Just arrived in the States this afternoon.

My parents' house.

Erin Gibbons

Ah. Does that mean that you finish the remainder of your PC service later, or are you done?

Hannah Koeppl

It depends. After 60 days if ebola is gone and good I go back and finish service. If not Idk.

Erin Gibbons

Gotcha. Well, Imma go ahead an profiter of that window....

Any interest in coming in to talk to my classes?

School starts on the 20th, so...I can work around your schedule from there.

Hannah Koeppl

Absolutely! I'm very free. Just give me a few days in advance. Anything I should bring? Pics? Art?

So last week, Hannah came in for her visit.  If I could pick what my last day of teaching would look like, it would that: a former student who exceeded my wildest expectations about what any student of mine would ever do, and then was so willing to come in and share all day long about her experience with my current classes.  Seeing this young person coming around the corner of the foreign language hallway in her exotic clothes with a smile on her face and a book full of Peace Corps literature was just about the best way to start a school day ever.

Her mini-lesson on malinké was delightful (A douma feuw!!!), and the pictures and video she shared were well chosen and really seemed to engage the classes.

Hannah tells us about her host family during training

Hannah was such a neat student when she was at RB, so a fair number of teachers stopped by to say hello and check out her presentation.   Even my classes who weren't too chatty listened with rapt attention, and (oh joy of joys!) Hannah was even able to do most of her presentation in French to my 3 Honors and AP classes...and they understood.

Although I wanted to be a good little teacher-blogger and get this posted sooner, I'm glad I waited.  I've had a number of students express interest in her story already, but today I actually had someone specifically ask for Hannah's email because she's seriously considering the Peace Corps.  Teachers, can I get a ¨hallelujah¨?  Taylor Mali, please write a poem for me about this!!!  Because even better than me making a difference, I taught this person who is making a difference herself.

I hope for Hannah's sake and certainly for all those in Guinea at risk of this horrible disease, that things get under control and she'll be able to go back and complete her 2 years of service.  If not, though, I know this one is still going to have a fabulously interesting life.

To read more about her experience de source sûre, click here to visit Hannah's blog.