“Can I tell you a story?” Angela West asked the room full of fifth-graders.
It would be one of many stories West, an adult with cerebral palsy who is Ms. Wheelchair Virginia 2015, would share with Tallwood Elementary School (TES) students.
West began with something they have in common.
“Have any of you been new to a school?” West asked the students.
Almost everyone raised their hands.
“How did you feel?” asked West.
Shy. Nervous. Scared.
“Me, too,” agreed West. “I was in the fourth grade when I started at a new school. I was scared.”
She also was the only student in a wheelchair. This, she acknowledged, made her different.
“I knew I looked different. I knew I talked different. I was left out a lot because I was different,” recalled West. “I had to sit on the side a lot. I was afraid I wouldn’t make any friends.”
That was until a classmate changed her life.
“Guess what happened one day? A little girl came up and asked me if I wanted to play. And you know what happened?” West asked.
“What?” replied the fifth-graders in unison, hanging on every word.
“We played,” responded West simply. “She figured out how to get me on the slide, how to play catch. How do you think I felt?” West asked.
“Happy,” said the audience.
“I was happy. I had friends,” affirmed West, only beginning to get students to consider how their actions impact others, for better or worse.
The friendship with her fourth-grade classmate has been lifelong. West shared she was in the friend’s wedding many years later and recently held her new baby.
“That little girl changed my life,” said West. “And you know what? I changed hers as well. Now she works with kids with disabilities.”
“She was your age when she changed my life. Look at what you can do!” encouraged West.
The positive experience with her elementary school classmate did not prevent others from perceiving West’s difficulty speaking and moving as barriers to her aspirations to graduate from college and become a teacher.
West told the story of a high school teacher who said she couldn’t become a teacher.
“You can’t speak correctly,” West recalled her teacher saying. “You can’t pick up kids if they fall down.”
“I wanted to be a teacher. I love kids. I adore you guys,” West said to the students. “To have someone tell you can’t do something you want to do is tough. I was sad.”
Then there was the college professor who told West she couldn’t take the final class she needed in order to graduate – public speaking.
“I told the teacher I need a little extra time because it takes me a bit longer. She told me I couldn’t take the class,” said West.
“Why can’t I take this class?” West asked her professor. “She said, ‘because you can’t talk.’ “I said, ‘I’m talking to you right now.’”
West told students she found a different teacher and earned an A in the class.
“She didn’t give me an A. I worked hard,” West said, reminding students of the importance of work ethic.
“So, I graduated. Isn’t that cool?” asked a smiling West to applause from students and other guests.
West is an accomplished student, earning a master’s degree and now working at Virginia Commonwealth University helping parents and children with disabilities.
She asked fifth-graders about their own career aspirations.
Responses included singer, attorney, NFL player and lion tamer.
“She wants to tame lions! That is awesome!” West exclaimed.
“People will tell you that you can’t do stuff,” said West. “You’ll never be a doctor. You’ll never be a lawyer. Don’t listen to them. I didn’t listen to them, and I’m glad I didn’t listen to them.”
Continuing her storytelling, West shared brief tales of playing football with her brother and his friends after initially thinking she could never participate. She recalled her recent adventures with downhill skiing.
“I was scared to death. I thought I was going to die,” admitted West. “I was screaming the whole way down,” she said smiling and to crowd laughter.
She also noted her visit to a neighborhood skate park with a friend and her friend’s young son.
“I tried to ride the ramp [in my wheelchair]. Don’t try it,” West advised.
“You can’t stop living life,” said West. “I have a great life. I do a lot of cool things. I would like to cook my own dinner. I would like to do all the things you do. I just do it in a different way.”
After the humorous stories, West honed in on the heart of her message.
“I need you to help me. Can you do that?” she asked students.
“Yes,” was their resounding answer.
“You are my ambassadors in this school. You heard my message today. You’re going to go into the hallway different than when you came in,” West said. “I need you to go out and change lives. Can you do that for me?”
“Yes!” proclaimed the students.
“Look at you. You’re world changers. Every one of you,” said West. “You have the opportunity to change someone’s life – in your class, on your bus, at the lunch table. You can be nice to someone who is a little different, not cool, picked on – just like that little girl changed my life. She told me not to give up, that I had a gift. You have gifts, too.”
Guidance counselor Tammy Schubart, who invited West to speak, knows her words will resonate with students.
“Her message is so very powerful,” said Schubart. “Attitude changes everything; no excuses and view every experience you have as an opportunity to change peoples’ lives.”
25 years in Virginia’s public schools means I have heard many people deliver messages to our students; however, Angela West was the most powerful speaker I have witnessed. Our students’ attention was riveted to her; they hung on every word. They related personally and compassionately to her experiences. When she told about difficult times, one could see her feelings reflected on their faces — sometimes sad, sometimes angry, sometimes frustrated, sometimes indignant. The same was true for her triumphs — cheering and laughter erupted spontaneously from the students, some of it audible, some it silent and warm.
Ms. West is a young woman with a powerful personality, an indomitable spirit, and tremendous skill as a public speaker. I hope more schools give their students an opportunity to experience a visit with her.