Take a minute and look at the photos scrolling at the top of this page. With the exception of the results graphic, all of these pictures feature Alabama students and educators. Spend a little more time looking at the picture of a student reading with a retired educator. There’s a story there.
Cameron is a fifth grader at Wrights Mill Road Elementary School in Auburn. He has big dreams … dreams that Dr. Terry Ley – the other person in the photo – has encouraged.
About 18 months ago, Terry, a retired English professor from Auburn University, started working with Cameron and some other fourth- and fifth-grade boys who were struggling readers. Terry, who is passionate about reading, worked to discover what each student was interested in. For Cameron, according to his teacher Shannon Brandt, it was weather.
Wanting to encourage Cameron’s interest and boost his reading skills, Dr. Ley selected a book on tornadoes. Cameron was hooked. The next book he read was about hurricanes.
Now, it seems, Cameron has decided to become a meteorologist.
Cameron’s principal Lynda Tremaine arranged for him to meet meteorologist Bob Jeswald from nearby WRBL-TV in Columbus, Georgia. Then, at a family night at school, Lynda talked about Cameron to a parent who worked at the Opelika-Auburn News.
As a result, Cameron was invited by the local newspaper to write a column about the weather every week. His first contribution was an interview with the Columbus meteorologist.
Thanks to several very committed adults – including the principal, a volunteer, a TV meteorologist, the editor of the Auburn Opelika news, and Cameron’s mom who encourages his interest – this talented 5th grader is now on a very different path than he was just 18 months ago.
And I have no doubt that in 10 years or so, we’ll see Cameron on the TV news reporting about the weather. Or maybe he’ll be one of the meteorologists from the National Hurricane Center, drawing our attention once again to the Gulf.
We chose the picture of Cameron and Dr. Ley to illustrate the phrase “Sharing high expectations” because this story epitomizes what we want to see more often. Wrights Mill Road Elementary is a Blue Ribbon School, and this example shows why even very good schools serve kids best when parents and the community are involved.
Isn’t this what we want for every student? What can we do to make sure that more students like Cameron receive this kind of personalized support and encouragement?
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