Spring Break 2020
Spring break 2020 started off normally enough. Marshall and I flew to Colorado to surprise my “sisters” August and Arden who at the time were living together. When Marshall and I flew back into Cleveland at the end of our trip, every college in Ohio was shut down as a result of Covid. When we were about 45 minutes outside of Columbus, Mom texted me. She told me that all of the schools in the state were closed, effective the following Monday, for three weeks. Cool, I thought to myself, three extra weeks of spring break! It wasn't until the end of that first week of lockdown that I realized that it wasn't going to be three weeks.
If I'm being completely honest the lockdown itself didn't bother me. I spent a lot of quality time with family, caught the podcast up to the present day, and went on a lot of walks. The weirdest part was that because Luke and Josh were doing online school I was very aware of the fact that HLC was too. Since I had worked in the after-school program HLC didn't have a job for me at that time. In other words, by the end of the summer, I had been on spring break for about 6 months while everyone else had gone back to school in some capacity.
On August 13, 2020, I was about to clock out for my break at Kroger when I saw Kathy, walking to the doors behind me. “Did you hear?” Kathy asked after I asked how she was.
“Hear what?”
“HLC was purchased by another school called New Story.”
Now I will admit this did cause me to panic a little bit. Once Kathy reassured me that nothing would change (other than eventually the name), I stopped panicking. After I saw Kathy, I thought back to the hockey game event that all HLC staff had been to. More importantly, I thought back to the conversation Addison and I had had about me becoming a teacher's aide.
You should talk to Kathy about that, Addison's voice echoed in my head.
“What should I say?” I replied to her voice, “‘Hey Kathy! It was nice to see you today! I know the world's gone to crap and I'm sure you have a lot on your plate right now, but would you be able to promote me from after school assistant to teacher's aide cuz that would be just swell!’”
I continued to argue with Addison's voice for months on end. However, as my extended spring break continued into the fall of 2020, I realized that enough was enough and it was time for me to take Addison's advice.
On July 12, 2021, I pulled into the New Story parking lot for my “teacher support” training. It was surreal walking back into the school formerly known as Haugland Learning Center. There were honestly a few times where I did not believe I would ever be back there, but I'm glad that I finally am!
Have a Greattastic day and be safe!
J. Mitchie Ulibarri
I would just like to thank all of the Educators who have helped me on my teaching journey so far. First and foremost I would like to thank “Martha Green”, the half-day kindergarten teacher (and eventual principal) at my grade school who helped me to start my teaching career. I would also like to thank all the other teachers at my grade school Including, but not limited to, “Peter Livingston” and “Tom Perkins”. Finally, I would like to thank all of the Ace workers and all HLC/New Story Staff, I couldn't have done it without you and I love you all!
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