Taking a few steps across a stage, a high school senior turns into a high school graduate. The image is familiar to many students, and they envision their graduation day, when they will walk across the stage and receive their diploma, signifying the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.
On May 14, the day before Cabot High School seniors took that step out of high school, many seniors took another important journey across the school district. Dressed in their bright red graduation caps and gowns, the students made their way to various district campuses with diplomas in hand. These diplomas were not for graduating high-schoolers, though. The students were the ones handing them out, and teachers, principals, bus drivers and other faculty and staff were on the receiving end.
Senior Laiken Estes said she knew without hesitation who she felt deserved a Life Impact Diploma. For the past six years, Cabot seniors have been giving these diplomas to Cabot Public School District faculty and staff as a way to say thank you for making an impact on the students’ lives, and Estes wanted to present a diploma to her medical-professions teacher, Jenifer Mitchell.
Mitchell’s classroom is in Champs Hall on Cabot High School’s campus. As Estes walked down the corridor toward Mitchell’s classroom, she admitted she might get a little emotional when she presented her medical-professions teacher a Life Impact Diploma. Estes said she has been in Mitchell’s classes for the past three years and plans to be a dental hygienist, partially because of Mitchell’s guidance and encouragement.
When Estes arrived at Mitchell’s door, the classroom was dark, but it wasn’t empty. Mitchell had lesson notes projected onto the white board for her class, but she was more than willing to stop when Estes entered the room. Everyone knew what Estes was there for, and the lights were turned on so she could read a letter to her teacher.
“In these short last few years, you have become such a huge part of my life,” Estes read to Mitchell. “From medical labs and field trips to having heart-to-hearts with you about life, you’ve always been ‘my person,’ just like [characters Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang in the television show] Grey’s Anatomy. … So, thank you for making high school the best years of my life. Mrs. Mitchell, you will always be my Momma Jen.”
After a tearful embrace, Estes walked out of the building, and Mitchell returned her attention to her class. The gesture was simple, and the whole thing took less than 10 minutes, but it is a reminder to faculty, staff and students of how much school can make an impact on a person.
Estes and Mitchell’s interaction was not unique. Hundreds of other seniors took time out of their day to thank school employees for taking extra time and making a difference.
Senior-class president Nolan McNiel said his senior year would have been completely different had it not been for math teachers Christy Rogers and Brittany Russell. Rogers and Russell encouraged McNiel to run for class president, including making campaign posters to hang all over the school during election season. They also helped him make sure prom was a memorable experience and supported him when he created the
television program Rollin’ With Nolan.
“With your help, I was able to have a prom date, Rollin’ With Nolan — though it was very short-lived — and, of course, the office of president which, I note, we won by a landslide,” McNiel read to the teachers.
McNiel said he plans to be a history teacher, then maybe go to seminary to become a youth pastor. Rogers and Russell said they would like to suggest that McNiel somehow fit in running for president someday. They might even make some posters for him again.
The next day, the seniors walked across the stage at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock to finish their high school careers. While each of the students will move on, the impact made by Cabot Public School District employees will go with them.
Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.