Walnutwood teen receives state honor for overcoming adversity
Congratulations to Walnutwood High School senior Michelle Broskie, who was recently honored as one of 19 students across California who overcame tremendous adversity to reach their goals of academic excellence.
Michelle is among those honored in the 2018 Every Student Succeeding program sponsored by the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA).
Michelle was nominated by her teacher Jessica Cisneros-Elliott for overcoming a series of personal obstacles including bullying, a health crisis, and victimization by an internship supervisor during her pathway to success.
Students will be honored at ACSA’s Leadership Summit in November. Her nomination was supported by ACSA’s Region 3, which represents 21 school districts in Sacramento and Yolo counties.
Below is the full narrative submitted to ACSA for this honor by her teacher, Jessica Cisneros-Elliott.
We selected Michelle Elizabeth Broskie for Every Student Succeeding because of regardless of the multiple obstacles, challenges, and gut-punches she has endured, she has continued to not only persevere but excel in school. Before Michelle’s first arrival at Walnutwood in middle school, she was an outgoing, enigmatic, and productive young lady. She was an honor student, special teacher assistant, valued yearbook member, and popular friend to all.
However, like many young girls today, that all changed due to bullying in seventh grade. Three of Michelle’s friends began a campaign of daily bullying that led Michelle to being unable to go to school. Her hands would shake; she would sweat through her clothes; and was unable to complete any work as their daily taunting escalated. So, in eighth grade Michelle transferred to Walnutwood where she was able to get back on track and return to the traditional environment. But, life wasn’t having it. After conquering her bullies, her body began its own daily assault. The first day of second semester she went for her routine annual physical and doctors discovered critical health concerns that needed urgent, multiple interventions.
These events brought Michelle back to Walnutwood second semester of her 9th grade year. After just the initial appointment with Michelle, her teacher, Mrs. Elliott, knew that she was something special. Her writing capabilities were not to be compared with her contemporaries but with those of the collegiate level. While recovering from medical issues, Michelle’s only outings were to school, where her teacher took the innate potential and talent and nurtured it. Her teacher overlayed college level curriculum on top off her regular high school coursework to prepare her for her own personal pathway. Mrs. Elliott knew that she needed to find a way to challenge Michelle, or she would stagnate in the high school curriculum. So, she helped her enroll in concurrent college classes where Michelle could read and write with her intellectual peers.
A few months later, Michelle was awarded a coveted internship that typically only hired high school seniors. Since her skills and talent were so undeniable, they gave her one of the spots as a junior. And, you’d think this was the end. The happy ending to modern coming-of-age tale. But, that’s where the gut-punch came in. Her trusted internship supervisor preyed on her. For five months, the supervisor victimized and took advantage of authority over her, which silenced Michelle’s motivation, stole her voice, and trapped her progress. She was a shell of the person she was, and no one knew why.
After disclosing to her mother her ordeal, it was Mrs. Elliott that they turned to for support the next day. As a mandated reporter, Mrs. Elliott made it clear that we would be getting high powers involved immediately, but her base concern was for Michelle. So, she enlisted one of the District’s Marriage Family Therapist to make sure Michelle was cared for and supported emotionally as she began this new, long, and arduous path. Over that school year, the team was able to give Michelle a clear and loud voice and worked tirelessly to get her to a new normal.
Flash forward to her senior year. Michelle is not only on track to graduate high school on time in May 2018, but she will be just two to three courses short of completing an Associate's Degree, with three more planned to complete during her first two years of college. While obtaining this degree was the goal back in 10th grade, her most recent obstacle has refocused, reenergized, and redoubled her efforts. Not only does she want a degree in communication, she has begun to pursue degrees in nutrition, kinesiology, and psychology so that she may be able to bring those areas together and create a life’s work to help others as holistically as she was here at Walnutwood.