Julianna Hoopengardner has been a student at TEA since Kindergarten. She is currently a senior! She recently spoke at the State of the School and did a beautiful job both illuminating and exemplifying character. Please enjoy her speech below.
As the sun dipped below the horizon on the rim of the Grand Canyon, putting an end to one blistering hot Arizona day last April, I collapsed onto my bag, the depths of the canyon I had been trying to escape since the sun rose that morning far out of sight. My skin was coated in sunscreen, dirt, and a layer of salt from the sheer amount of sweat I had produced. The ground under my feet was the first level ground I’d felt all day, and it was a miracle my feet could feel anything at all. I had quite literally overcome the biggest obstacle I had ever faced. It was this moment that I learned the true meaning of perseverance.
I had witnessed TEA drilling the idea and practice of perseverance into students’ heads since we could tie our own hiking boots. For years, I had pushed myself to my limits, and in the Grand Canyon, far beyond them. But often, leaving out comfort zones means more than that.
In elementary school, we used to have competitions for who could pick up the most trash, independent of teacher instruction. We decided to do that on our own, and we didn't care about how dirty our hands got. This is real stewardship.
In class discussions, I’ve watched my classmates stand up for what they believe, even when standing alone. This is advocacy at its most vulnerable.
On expeditions, whether we’ve been at the top of a mountain, the bottom of a canyon, or the depths of a jungle, we always make time to express what we’re grateful for, no matter how exhausted we are. This is profound gratitude.
I’ve seen my classmates work together to build anything from shelters in the woods to go-carts, and in doing so, we’ve learned how to effectively collaborate.
Our passion projects, in and out of school, are completed with the meticulous precision that can only be born from the love of learning, growing, and creating. This is devoted craftsmanship.
I’ve been blown away by my peers' ability to own their mistakes, and admit their faults, knowing and embracing the negative consequences. And each time, they have been comforted and forgiven by their classmates. This is responsibility met with empathy.
Every TEA student is bound to have some crazy story of being placed way outside of their comfort zone, whether it’s raccoons breaking into their tent, falling off a waterfall, getting caught in a flash flood, repelling a 240-foot cliff, or, my most recent, being trapped in the ocean, 100 feet underwater, surrounded by sharks.
The point, however, of these perilous escapades was never to push us out of our comfort zones so that we could return to comfortable safety and never look back. The idea is that we expand our comfort zones, building the courage and know-how to not only overcome, but thrive in, and even seek
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