Kherz’den Humphrey
Reporter
How do you feel about being back on campus this year with the risk of COVID-19 still looming?
A lot of emotions; before we started I was really scared. I had been at home for five months, so I was really comfortable with that. Coming to be around people really freaked me out, but now that I’m here, it feels almost normal, besides the masks. Every day is kind of different.
What extra precautions are you taking in order to keep yourself and those around you safe?
I wear my mask the whole time on campus, even when I’m alone for the most part. Obviously I wash my hands a lot. I also bring an extra set of clothes, so I wash hands, change my clothes and change my mask before leaving so I don’t contaminate my car. Also not going out to eat, and we do the contact free grocery shopping.
How different is this semester compared to others?
It’s so different but also the same. Students and their troubles are the same; adjusting to college is the same. It also gets intense from emails I get from students saying they are sick or that they have to quarantine; that really changes the game. The class feels the same every day, but cleaning is different, I never thought my job would be to tell people to put their mask on; the enforcement role is pretty different.
How many job titles do you currently hold?
At Crowder I am the director of speech and debate, and I am also the public speaking instructor. I also coach a middle school/high school debate team in Springfield.
Which job do you think will be impacted the most by the COVID-19 changes?
I think the middle school and high school. I taught college speaking online; we went online in the spring, so I could move college online with relatively little struggle. All of the high school and middle school tournaments will be totally online. We used to travel, and now we’re doing it all online from home or the school if it is open. The middle schoolers may not be able to handle it as well.
What is something that you wish you would’ve known when you were in college?
Don’t skip the reading!!! Everything that went bad; grades, tests, could have been resolved with doing the reading, especially freshman year. In college the teacher won’t call you out, so it didn’t matter too much to me. But life would’ve been easier if I just did the reading.
What is the craziest conversation you’ve overheard students having?
Any conversation about what they do over the weekend; they’re really bold about saying it in front of me.
What tips or tricks have you picked up on from your jobs?
The two biggest would be organization, like planning your week and days out, giving things a deadline, not scrambling to finish things last minute. Then communication; in high school and college, if you don’t have the work done, you can just skip and not worry about it, which is a terrible strategy. Just communicate with people especially when you won’t meet your deadline. People are a lot more understanding than you think; then, you don’t have looming stress from overthinking. We think it’s easier to just avoid our problems than to face them, so just be honest even if the truth is ugly.
What is the best excuse you’ve ever gotten?
“The cows got out.” It was real, and multiple other students texted me about it. The school’s cows had gotten out and were blocking the highway.
What life skills do they teach in school that is the most useful?
Time management; when you’re in middle school and some of high school, everything is dictated for you. You have to go to this class at this time on this day, and then you have practice and work. You don’t have to really make your own time tables to do things, so I think the best thing college does is teach you how to manage your time and how to manage your idle time, so you get stuff done but also have time to do other things.
What are some misconceptions about your job?
Everyone thinks because I’m a public speaking teacher that I don’t get nervous about public speaking, and that is straight up not true. I am actually a very anxious person, so the night before every first day of the semester, I don’t sleep much, or it’s really poor sleep because I’m so nervous. So I think that people assume because by the time I get here, I usually have a pretty good face on and they can’t tell how nervous I am.
What is the best lesson that you have learned from your students?
Give everyone the benefit of the doubt; everyone is doing the best they can with what they have. Everyone deals with things differently and does the best they can. If you are kind and show them grace, you get the best out of them.
What is the funniest thing you’ve seen a kid do in class?
Two truths and a lie; that can get really funny. People come up with really interesting lies, or they just have really interesting truths. Really anytime that happens in class it gets crazy, and there is always tons of laughter.
Where is your favorite place to go when grading papers or going over schoolwork?
Pre-COVID, I could be anywhere, I could sit with my laptop and headphones; it could be Starbucks or the library. Somewhere with enough people that I could people watch to let my brain wander, but not enough to focus on them outside of my work.
What is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to you on the job?
The most embarrassing, weird thing that happened was that on the first day of teaching high school, I was wearing heels, and busted it (fell). Literally fell on the floor in front of a ton of people, it was so embarrassing. The weirdest thing students do is that middle school students debating always gets crazy. It almost always evolves into yelling at each other because they don’t have the emotional coping skills to argue; everything is very black and white to them.
How do you plan or prepare for the future?
There are so many ways to answer. Doing jobs the best I can because it sets me up for whatever I want to do in the future. Doing 100% helps me feel good, which helps with my mental and physical health, and it sets pathways leading to things in the future.
How much do you think that people’s names affect their lives?
A lot actually, I’ve been doing some reading about microaggression and small things that happen to people, like those with unique names being pronounced wrong constantly can negatively affect them. You can’t even have your name as your own. Solution is for people to try harder to pronounce names or to be nice when asking about it.
Who do you most look up to at the school?
My boss, Keri Carroll. I have never gone to her with a problem that she didn’t just jump up and immediately try to help me solve. She is just a beast, and really advocates for all of us.
Which one of your jobs is the most time consuming?
College speech. With COVID-19 I have 9 classes, which takes a lot. But I wouldn’t want to do anything else.
How do you relax after a hard day at work?
I go home, pet cats and take care of them, which makes me really happy. Since COVID, I have a few Netflix shows I’m into, so I will watch an episode to help decompress before doing whatever else I need to do.
Why did you decide to do the work you do now?
Two reasons. First being that I just enjoy it; it makes me happy. Second is that I think society generally sets so many up to fail because we don’t give them public speaking training. So much of how we are perceived by other people is by how we talk. We just assume they know how because we all talk, which I just think is not fair. Having an anxious personality shouldn’t make it harder for you to live your life. We shouldn’t let naturally confident people run things without giving people the things they need to be successful.
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