Once you are a Noble Family, you always are a Noble Family. This episode shares just one of many examples of how mother, daughter, and son, all have had close connections to the Noble Academy community, and how a personalized program for students who learn differently can make a difference in lives.
Gayle: Once a Noble family, always a Noble Family. Since I became Head of School, I can’t tell you how many families I have met that have layered connections to the school, and whose stories continue to weave through the fabric of the community over the years, even after students graduate.
I am honored to share just one of those stories today.
Jane: My name is Jane Cunningham. I am the mother of two Noble students. My family came to be at Noble because my son had gone to boarding school for boys up in the mountains. He was doing fine there, but he was very unhappy and lonely. And we missed him, I missed him terribly. And so we decided it just wasn't a good fit.
… We talked to the people at Noble and it was just amazing the way they were willing to accommodate him in the middle of the year with classes that didn't quite coincide with what he would be taking when he got here. But they just made it work. It was incredible.
I was kind of shocked because no other school we had ever gone to and I have four children and so we one of them at least attended almost every school in Greensboro where and there there was just never that willingness on the teachers’ part to just kind of meet the student wherever they needed to be met and help them.
He attended for about three semesters about eight years ago. And then my daughter graduated five years ago.
Today, they're doing incredibly well. My son graduated from college online and he's working for Fidelity out in Denver as a high net worth advisor loving it and doing really really well. They've already asked him to start mentoring younger employees and I think that some of that has to do with his good southern manners.My daughter has done very well, too.
She was a very good student. She just needed extra time for everything and she was allowed to have all kinds of extra time here and she ended up doing really really well. She got citizen of the year and I think she got a 4.0 grade point average and is now teaching third grade in Guilford County Schools.
Gayle:
So you might think now that Jane’s kids are all grown up and successful, that might be the end of the story. But remember, once a Noble family, always a Noble family.
Jane: Well, after the children left Noble, every year when the fundraising letter would come, I would get out my checkbook and give them as much as I could. I thought this is the place of all the schools that I thought deserved and needed my money and and then I just became interested in being here and I started subbing and following them on Facebook and seeing what they were up to and uh still subbing today.
And when I've been subbing, and I've subbed in the classroom and at the front desk. All I've witnessed is just kind, gentle children who are often very eager to talk to adults and have excellent manners and who just really want a kind voice and they're willing to chat if you're willing to chat.
I have definitely recommended Noble to many many parents whose kids who are struggling I've mentioned it to those with auditory processing or ADHD or any of the nameless issues that make it difficult for people to learn. I have always recommended Noble as being a great place that handles those issues but also very gently and it's just so the teachers just seem to take everything in stride. It's not a lot of feeling of tension or unhappiness. People just seem to be trying to help.
Gayle:
You might remember Jane’s son Greg from episodes 7 or 8. He has been on this podcast talking about his pathway from boarding school, to Noble, to a career in finance, and he also spoke about the importance of the connection he felt to his teachers at Noble. Well, when we spoke, he also had this to say:
Greg
My mom couldn't be more grateful to Noble, for both me and my sister. It suited us so well and gave us confidence in our education. We both have different learning styles but were accommodated at Noble.
My sister is six years younger than me. She also went to boarding school for a year but didn't enjoy it. She came back and is now a third-grade teacher. I think her experience at Noble, particularly with Miss Hughes, really fostered her love of teaching.
I am definitely proud to be Noble. Coming in, I had a very different outlook on what life after high school would be like. I wasn't planning on furthering my education. But with the push and confidence I gained at Noble, I ended up going to college and now work in finance, which I never would have imagined.
Gayle:
We also have had Clare on previously, in episode 8, and I want to share a bit more of her interview today.
Clare:
I came from a situation, my previous high school that I just had no motivation about learning or doing work or anything like that. And Noble's exactly what I needed.
My mom had mentioned Noble because my brother had attended there and, you know, I was hesitant just because, you know, my friends didn't go to Noble that I had gone to school with for elementary school. They all went to public high school around there. So I was definitely hesitant, but I ended up agreeing to it.
And, another student was coming in at the same time as me who had been taking chemistry at his previous school. And so they offered this elective, for just me and this other student to finish this course of chemistry so it was just me and this other student and Miss Payne and it was very fun, but she was actually teaching another class at the same time. So it was just, it was another example of just Noble accommodating its students just to be able to fulfill all their requirements and get the education they need.
Gayle:
Today, Clare is teaching third grade in a local public school. It took confidence for her to make the journey. She gives some credit to Noble for that.
Clare:
So I, when I was at Noble, I definitely felt this overwhelming confidence come back into my life that I hadn't felt maybe since, when I was in elementary school. I had always felt a little behind with my friends and everything in academics. Not socially but just always academically. And, Noble really brought me back, especially with writing and English. I had the best English teacher I've ever had at Noble. And previously, I had had writing teachers that told me that, you know, negative things about my writing all my life. And so, I just kind of hated writing. I hated English, everything like that. And I also didn't think I could do math. I didn't like anything about it. But, at Noble, I started being able to do it. And it was so foreign to me because these teachers believed in me and I was kind of ahead of other people and I was, it was just so confusing to me to be honest because, it was just foreign and the teachers actually asked me to help other students too. So I was actually more of a leader in the classroom as well, which I love that role. , so I think that was probably the main thing that I loved about Noble is that they really helped me get my confidence back in academics, and it was really special for me because I was about to go to college and I needed that confidence back.
I went to UNCG, but I ended up graduating from Greensboro College and, and Greensburg College was much smaller and I think I benefited from that more than UNCG just because those small classes are a lot more like Noble.
Greensboro College also prepared me significantly for teaching. And so I was able to get those accommodations. I was actually able to graduate summa cum laude, which was awesome.
I graduated that and then I got two scholarships and awards during, uh, graduation and was able to graduate and the place I did my student teaching had already offered me a job before I graduated.
I love teaching and I've always wanted to be a teacher and I, I don't think I've ever really wavered from it.
Teaching is very hard, to be honest, I always heard that it was hard. I always knew it was hard, but then you just really don't know until you start doing it, how difficult it is and how time-consuming and how tiring you will be. Especially your first year, I think. Thankfully, I've had a lot of support and I feel like I was definitely prepared, as push as I can be. And also, I think I have a bit of a leg up just because I did have learning difficulties. , and so I learned different strategies about how to learn in different ways. And I think that because I learned that way, I can now help my students in different ways that maybe some teachers cannot or cannot relate to them in the same way.
Gayle:
I want to end today’s episode with an extra special thank you to Jane, who stepped in this school year when we had a vacancy at the Upper School front desk, and she filled in for weeks and weeks, and did such a wonderful job. Jane has been a parent here, a donor, a sub, and an advocate for Noble Academy. One day, I got a treat: her daughter, Clare, didn’t have school that day, so she came in and had lunch with her mom, so I got to meet her in person. While she was here, she also enjoyed saying hello to her past teachers. It was just one more reminder that, once a Noble Family, always a Noble Family.
Thank you, Clare, Greg, and Jane.