Krysten Pierce

Teacher
Dupo, IL

We found Krysten Pierce sitting alongside peers in one of those cavernous high school gyms waiting for the annual back-to-school kickoff professional development to begin. At one point in our workshop with the entire K-12 faculty of Dupo Public Schools, we invited a few staff to serve as an impromptu panel to share their motivations as educators and their own experiences in school. Krysten volunteered to serve on the panel. As she began to speak she caught our attention. Her passion as an educator was palpable. Listening to her story, it became evident to us that every kid who struggles in school needs a teacher in their corner who has Krysten’s ‘whatever it takes’ attitude about building relationships with learners who often are disenfranchised from school.  

Flyover America Made Real

It would be easy to miss Dupo, Illinois, a small village south of East St. Louis with about 4,000 people. It’s a railroad town, created by the arrival of the railroad at the beginning of the last century, and it’s dominant industry remains the Union Pacific rail/truck intermodal facility. It’s flatland, “bottomland” is the term, and nearby bluffs tell the story of the Mississippi floodplain, and the floods that have periodically washed over the community. The area has a complex history, America’s First Nations’ people farmed the fertile soil, before being joined by French settlers and traders, and later by immigrants from the south and east who tagged the region with the nickname “Little Egypt,” because cotton became the key cash crop. Before the Civil War the area was the southernmost point of the non-slave-holding United States.

Krysten Pierce has lived in Dupo her entire life, save for her time at Southern Illinois University two hours to the southeast.

America’s Forgotten Students

“Students in my classroom probably won't go to college,” she says, “but that's okay  as long as when they leave me in four years they're ready to live life and be successful. That's my goal.” This isn’t a place of multiple college applications to “selective” schools. It’s not a place where kids are likely to grow up worried about degrees and status. Success is more basic, as it is for most of America’s forgotten students.

“Last year one of my former students who I had for four years messaged me and said, “Thank you, Mrs. Pierce for everything. You literally have made me just who I am. I got a job and I'm actually living in an apartment on my own now.” He couldn't count money when he first came into my class. I asked, “You're paying bills?” He said his mom still helps a little bit on some things but he signed his own lease. It just touched me to know that I had that big of an impact. I never thought that kids would feel that special love for me as much as I showed it to them. It just makes me feel so good.” 

There’s More to Learning and Life Success Than the Taught Curriculum

Krysten describes herself as far from the best student when she was attending the Dupo Public Schools. In fact, she says she was a talker who often found herself at odds with school work, a square peg in a round hole learning environment. That’s the reason she was drawn to come back home, that’s the reason she wanted to teach special education in high school. Coming back to a high school and now teaching alongside those she might have struggled with a few years before was hard, but she has found support, and works hard to make sure her students know that there are many possible pathways. “I feel like being book smart and always studying, always getting straight A's, isn't always the best thing. It's okay to make mistakes. It's okay to interact, and not just be so ‘I have to do it this way.’”

Krysten teaches because she knows she makes a difference with students. She herself was not the perfect student and she believes that helps her build relationships with students who struggle in school. Her own frustrations as a student lead her to empathize with students but also to help them develop competencies that are necessary to success in life, not just to learn a curriculum that can feel inaccessible to the special education students she teaches. Krysten attributes her own dispositions, ones she now works to pass on to her students-resilience, persistence, kindness, and respect- to her parents. 

“My parents are probably my biggest influence,” Krysten says, “I'm an only child and I had a lot of attention from them but I also learned to interact on my own. I  played Barbies or dolls or whatever by myself. I entertained myself all the time but that helped me become who I am. My parents always pushed me to do my best. I've made mistakes, I still do. It's helped me be a better person because you learn from your mistakes.”

The Dupo Schools seem to have found the way to Krysten’s thinking. More of the faculty describe themselves as being “bad” students than good. The Superintendent talks of being thrown out of middle school. Those staff experiences fill the school buildings with empathy and a deep love for their kids.

Krysten talks about one student, “he always talked back, he always was rude— disrespectful, and then last year sitting in my class he looked at one of his freshmen peers and said, “You know if you just listen she can be very kind and respectful but you have to respect her,” and I said, “Did you just say that?” and he said, “Well it's true. I mean I'm growing up.”

“I don't know what's always happening at their home. I might have kids that take care of their brothers, sisters, cousins, whoever else they have to help get ready in the morning with no shower and no running water. They might have a box of cereal, or not, whatever, but they got themselves ready, and made it to school by eight o'clock and that's OK. I always tell my kids if there's a struggle, you tell me. If you didn't sleep last night because your cat was climbing on top of you, I'm not going to say you're not going to sleep. I let kids go on the couch that we have in our room and take a 10-minute nap. They come up and ask, “May I please lay my head down for a little bit, I'm just exhausted, I didn’t sleep last night” I say, “Sure why not, but thank you for asking. You didn't just put your head down and go to sleep, and you know that's the biggest thing.” That builds respect.”

“I feel like some teachers are always no, no, no.” This young teacher concludes, “and I don't do that with my kids. I want them to figure out a way to reach success.”