I’m Where I Am Because of You (A Comic)
Panel 1: “How do you always get the outcasts?”
Panel 2: “I’m where I am today because of you.”
Panel 3: “I created a video game because you showed interest in what I wanted to learn!”
Panel 4: “I’ve done my job here. Onto my next chapter.”

B is…

  • 43 Years-Old
  • Male, Cisgender
  • White, Mixed
  • Catholic
  • Middle Class
  • Heterosexual

Author’s Note

B worked at an alternative learning school. This is where the students who are most likely to drop out go to earn their high school diplomas by the time they would have reached the ninth grade in a traditional school setting. B taught a Tech class and one day a fellow teacher asked him “How do you always get the outcasts?” At first, B was puzzled by this question, but he did have the most diverse classes in the school (whether racially or financially diverse). He felt that by calling these students outcasts they were set up to fail; no wonder these were the students most likely to drop out. When they are being labeled in such ways by their educators, they are less likely to receive a quality education.

B discovered that when he showed interest into what these students were capable of, they would strive to succeed. He was able to create a space where students felt comfortable to talk to him about their personal lives and they greatly looked up to him in their education. On B’s last day at this school, he stopped to get gas right near the school. A former student of his comes up to him and immediately hugs him. He starts telling B about all of the things he has achieved since graduating. He thanks B for being his teacher and seeing his potential. He also credits B for the success he has had in life and believes that he couldn’t have done it without B’s help.

B also told me a story about a young girl who had an interest in video games. She asked B if he would be able to teach her how to create a video game and even though he did not necessarily know how he was determined to help her. He was able to get her the need programs and learn with her how to use it. Together they learned the program and she was later able to create her very own video game.