By Ben Cox
Photo/Submitted to The Source
Ciara Wilhite experienced a whirlwind week in her life in late October. Wilhite has spent a decade in teaching and is in her first year as a science teacher for Jacksonville Middle School.
The previous seven years were spent as a science teacher at Franklin Junior/Senior High School. The week of October 20 didn’t start off great as Wilhite’s husband had a heart attack 10 days earlier that had kept her out of her classroom at JMS. She eventually returned October 24.
Former student and current senior at Franklin High School, James Johnson, along with his mother, Alissa, were waiting with a big surprise for Wilhite when she returned to the classroom at JMS.
James Johnson had chosen Wilhite for his pick for the Make an Impact Award that is given out by the New Berlin football team. Franklin, Waverly and New Berlin co-op in football, and he is a tight end and defensive end for the team. The surprise came right before Johnson’s final game against Maroa-Forsyth that evening.
Wilhite had Johnson as a student as a sophomore and junior at Franklin. “I had him for chemistry and forensic science,” Wilhite explains, “I guess he had worked out [presenting the award] with my [JMS] principal, Celeste Lashmett, and his [Franklin] principal, Braxton Stewart. They had worked it out so he could come to JMS to surprise me.
During the first hour, I had a random substitute teacher come to my classroom saying they needed me to go to the office. Of course I was thinking, ‘Oh gosh, what do you need me in the office for?’ And when I walked into the office, there he was with his mom to give me the shirt and to tell me he had chosen me for this award.”
Wilhite said with all of the emotions of her first day back and then the recognition, she instantly burst into tears of joy.
Wilhite took to her social media to praise Johnson, “James is truly one of the smartest students I’ve ever had in my ten years of teaching. He’s what I like to call a rare bird, the perfect mix of book smarts and street smarts. His energy, humor, and love for learning made every single class so much fun.”
Wilhite says that Johnson told her that the forensic science class truly inspired him to pursue forensics for his college degree.
Wilhite says the award has a deeper meaning for her as far as impact goes, “I don’t think we all realize how much time we get to spend with people’s kids. Especially with Franklin being such a small school, I saw a lot of my students every day for multiple hours. I was the only high school science teacher at Franklin. It just made me realize that I wish I could give out a ‘make an impact’ award because I truly believe that I am a teacher because of other educators I had in my past. I guess as a kid you don’t really understand the gravity of the situation. When James gave me that award, I burst out in tears because teachers are human and we feel a lot of the times we are not appreciated, or we’re taken advantage of, or we’re just not looked at as humans sometimes. I think that made it all worth it knowing that I made an impact on him that much.”
