Something Worth

Fighting For

To the Editor:

To the taxpayers who got me where I am today:

Although I understand the constant feeling of needing to fill our schools with new computers, fancy greenhouses, and enormous gymnasiums to compete with schools around Connecticut, I think it’s about time we get a grip on where we our education actually comes from. When I occasionally check back on Newtown news from all the way down in South Carolina where I go to college, I’m always disappointed to hear about the constant fighting our town is engaged in when it comes to spending money on our schools.

If I actually take the time to think about what I benefited from the most, educationally, I can’t say our old-fashioned slide projectors and occasionally slow desktop computers are what come to mind. In fact, the only time I’m even reminded of these are when various officials emphasize all the “problems” they are causing. Rather, I think about the great teachers I had who took the time and effort to help me get to where I am. These are the teachers and guidance counselors who take the time out of their days to cheer us on at our sports games, volunteer on our church mission trips, help us revise our college essays and encourage us when we get nervous planning our futures.

I now go to college in a state that has suffered some of the most severe lack of funding in public schools that our country has ever seen. If you ever get the chance, watch the video Corridor of Shame and you’ll know what I’m talking about. While these school systems fight over whether to build bathrooms that actually function and don’t send waste into the hallways or to buy enough textbooks to allow all of their students to read them, my school from home is arguing over a half a million-dollar greenhouse and a turf football field. And while I can’t help but feel blessed to come from a town as financially fortunate as Newtown, I never wrote my college essay about the laptops our school used or the old gym that I played some of the most exciting volleyball games of my life in. Instead, I wrote about the teachers who mentored me and the coaches who encouraged me. Though I applaud the board for always pushing more for our students, I plead for you to keep in mind what we actually learn from.

I have been honored to learn from some of the most beautiful people I have ever met who have come from the poorest of school systems while being down in South Carolina at school. If they’ve taught me anything it’s been that fancy computers and high tech greenhouses can only get you so far, but an encouraging word and perseverance gives you limitless opportunities. So if you get the chance, take the time to thank our teachers, coaches, guidance counselors, and administrators. They are more than a paycheck out of our town budget, and they are something worth fighting for.

Sarah Truitt

833 Old Greenville Hwy, Clemson, SC              September 22, 2010