Throughout her short few years teaching at Central Kitsap High School, Emilia Ford became a magnet for students who feel there is a hole in the educational system for them. During her English classes, Ford makes a conscious effort to focus her curriculum on the stories that have not traditionally been told in school. Through literature and art, Ford incorporates different cultures, lifestyles, viewpoints and identities for the purpose of forwarding representation. 

One of just a handful of the staff who is a person of color, the student activists confide in her. Through this, she became the advisor for both the Black and Hispanic student union.

 “In High school I remember thinking to myself; I’m so tired of the slave narrative, like when am I going to hear a happy black story” Ford says as she reflects on her own high school experience. 

This focus has not always received positive feedback from students though. Ford says that she has had students accuse her of “making it a race thing” when she has stressed the criticality of an author’s race as an important aspect of their body of work. But Ford sees this push back as an opportunity to ask students to reflect on why they feel the need to push back. 

Ford says how the stories she tells in her classroom are real experiences told by real people and how she hopes that her students can empathize through art. She says that maybe through literature, students can “humanize” people who are from a vastly different culture, time, and place.

According to the organization Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit Disorder, women are often overlooked when it comes to a diagnosis of ADHD and most of them will grow into adulthood without ever receiving proper treatment. 

Ford shares this sentiment as she was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Disorder last year. Ford says that she is very open with her students about her diagnosis. Further reflecting on her high school life, Ford says how school was always a struggle for her.  “I got diagnosed with ADHD and it explained to me why school and being a student was difficult when I was younger”. 

Even before her diagnosis, Ford understands how the rigorous nature of the school system does not a

lways work for everyone. She says that students can express their understanding of a subject in many different ways and she makes it a point to offer students a variety of ways to complete projects. “She gets to know everyone one-on-one so she has more of a personal connection with her students” Neveah Capels, a senior, says about her experience with Ford. 

Phia Vaitautolu, a senior, says that they hope other teachers can learn from Ford’s understanding demeanor towards her students. On the other side of these interactions, Ford worries that students separate her from her place of authority as an educator. 

“They have to do serious work and it can’t always be memes all the time” Ford says while reflecting on her classroom environment. Ford says that sometimes it can be a frustrating balance between the friendships that she makes with students and making sure that they see her as a teacher foremost.

There is a noticeable uptick in the magnitude of student culture appreciation throughout the last few years. Mostly advanced by senior class leaders who share a worry that after graduation, their efforts will fade into the background without underclassmen to keep the torch burning.

 But through representation and continued cultural celebration in classrooms like Fords, there is hope that these stories will resonate with upcoming classes. Along with that, there is hope that these students will keep the torch burning.