Naomi Welcomes You Written and Illustrated by: Natalie Harmon

Dedicated to: My mom, for making this new adventure possible.

Hi, my name is Naomi and I’m here to welcome you to high school!

High school can be exciting and fun, but for someone who feels like they don’t fit in because of their health issues, it can be tough.

When you have a health impairment it can be rough sometimes keeping up with classwork and making friends, especially when you might not have the energy.   That’s why I want to share my story with you.   I was like you, excited about high school, new friends, exciting classes, and the hope of a new beginning.

For me, middle school had been tough to say the least For me, middle school had been tough to say the least. A big part of my struggles were related to me having diabetes, which is a disease that often make me late to class due to trips to the nurses office or miss class altogether because of being sick or doctor appointments. This led to me struggling to keep up with school work, make friends, and even feeling part of school at all. Now I know many of you don’t have diabetes, but there are many other health impairments, like asthma, epilepsy, heart conditions, sickle cell anemia, and so much more that some of you might have. Or maybe you know someone with one of these conditions. Having an illness can really make you feel left out and behind sometimes. But that’s where my story comes in. Hopefully you’ll learn some ways to make this year and your high school experience better than all the rest.

My story starts out the night before the first day of school of my freshman year. I was all ready to go with a new outfit picked out, a new shiny backpack, and all of my school supplies were packed. I was feeling hopeful and positive, certain this was going to be an awesome school year. But little did I know my body was brewing up its own plan.

Instead of heading the class the next morning, I ended up in the hospital. Once again all my plans were shattered into pieces. Not only did I end up missing the first day of class, I missed the whole first week.

Normally, I could take my health issues in stride Normally, I could take my health issues in stride. Diabetes was something I had been dealing with my whole life and I tried to not let I get me down. But this time it got to me. It all sunk in that I was, yet again, going to have a lame school year. I was afraid high school was going to be just like middle school.

My mom saw how upset I was My mom saw how upset I was. She tried to console me, but I was feeling so defeated. But she had an idea to help, though at first I was reluctant.       Before returning to school, she suggested I email my teachers for help. Maybe together they could help me figure out a way to still feel included in the class, even when I was forced to miss or was having a rough day. At first this sounded like a terrible idea. I didn’t want to email my teachers. They would probably hate me or think I was lame for asking. I was always so anxious to talk to my teachers because I always felt like such a bother due to my diabetes. This would just make me a bigger problem for them. But my mom kept pushing me. I begged for her to talk to my teachers for me, but she refused. She told me I needed to advocate for myself more and that she wasn’t always going to be able to step in and do things for me. Again, I resisted. So, we came to a compromise. She told me I had to start with one. I had to pick my favorite subject and email that teacher with some ideas on what I thought would help me keep up in class and stay included. My mom said she would help me compose the email and then based on the response we’d see how I felt about reaching out to my other teachers.

I decided before writing my email to ask for help, that I needed to do a little research. My mom always says that when you’ve got a problem it’s not enough to just complain about it, you’ve got come up with ideas of how to fix it. Armed with my laptop, which I usually spend a lot of time on surfing when I’m bored at home, I started looking for ideas.

Once I had some firm ideas, my mom sat with me and helped me write out the email to my social studies teacher, since social studies is my favorite subject. This year I was taking geography, which seemed like it would be really interesting, especially because we get to learn about different cultures around the world. In the email, I introduced myself, said a little bit about some of the struggles I’ve had over the years due to being sick a lot and what I thought would help me be successful in the class.

After proofing reading it multiple times and getting some help on the wording, I sent it off, hopeful that my teacher wouldn’t think I was a bother.           It wasn’t long till I heard back and my teacher, Mrs. Spears, didn’t make me feel like a bother at all! I was so relieved. She told me she was excited to have me in her class and that she would love to work with me to figure out the best ways to help me be included and stay on top of the material, even when I wasn’t always there. My hope was quickly renewed and I started to gain back some of the optimism I had lost. Mrs. Spears wrote that she’d need a little time to work through my ideas and we agreed to meet for a few minutes before class the day I returned to school.

After our first meeting we discussed my ideas a little bit more and soon we came up with a plan.

First, Mrs. Spears said she’d create a class blog where all of the lesson notes and activities would be posted. All students would be able to post information, along with videos for practicing and explaining new concepts. It’s really cool because we can all comment on each other’s work, providing feedback and ideas to improve. I also love it because it allowed me to interact with my peers even when I’m not at school. Second, my teacher created choice boards for our major assignments. These are totally cool, because they’re not just tailored for me, they work for everyone. They let everyone have a choice in how they’re going to show how they understand the concepts and we get to decide the way to present them in the way that works for us. For example, I wouldn’t have to present a project in front of class, instead I could choose to create a video, or some other sort of visual that I feel more comfortable creating (which is super helpful when I’m not there). This way I can still show I understand the lesson, but I can show it in the way that works best for me.

The last cool idea we came up with was Response Cards The last cool idea we came up with was Response Cards. These are cards that are premade with answers on them and when the teacher asks a question, everyone holds up what they think the answer is. Sometimes when I’ve been out, or feel I’m falling behind I’m not always as confident to raise my hand in class and I definitely don’t want to be singled out. But these allow everyone to answer at the same time. Everyone gets to participate, which is so cool.

Now these are only a few of the different ideas we came up with and there are so many more that could help any of you who have similar struggles that I have. You need to figure out what works well for you. It’s important that you become an advocate for yourself because no one is going to know you better than you. This a great way to practice speaking up for yourself!            

So that’s my story and I hope you got some valuable tips for having a great school year. I know these things really helped me and I definitely had a better year than all the rest.