November drama - a little long
Just when I thought I could get in under the wire..
I teach an entry level college writing course and my students are wrapping up their presentations on a social injustice of their choosing. We had a presentation on child abuse and I called on a girl to go next. Her computer wouldn't work, so we defaulted to the next girl, who I will call Julie. Julie's injustice is addiction and abuse of prescription drugs among teens. She gets about 4 slides into it and we are all on board, commenting on her stats and asking questions, when she says, "This is a personal thing because one of my friends.." and bursts into tears. This is par for the course since I encourage them to choose something heartfelt to research and many kids cry or share personal trauma. I said, "Take a deep breath" and she says, "Well, my friend just took 25 valium before class." I said, "Before this class? Like 20 minutes ago?" She said yes. I said, 'You're sure she's not lying? and she said, "She deals drugs and has them all the time. Her mom is a heroin addict." I asked if she called the police and she said no, that she didn't know what to do. I said, "We need to call the police. She could be ODing right now." She was totally hysterical yet cooperative, so we called 911 who connected us to campus police who tracked down the girl in her class. I don't really know what happened next. The last we heard was the police were there, I assume taking her to the hospital. I comforted my student and assured her she did the right thing. Now I'm sitting at home shaking, thinking about how many times things like this go on and we, as teachers, have no idea. If my other student's Mac would've worked or If Julie hadn't trusted me, the girl would have died.
Re: November drama - a little long
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Wow! Unfortunately, I feel like these situations are too common now. I keep in mind that even my big seniors (soon to be college freshmen) are still somebody's "baby". Many of them still don't have the decision making skills required for the real world, and those first few years away from mom and dad are particularly difficult.
Kudos to you for doing exactly as each teacher is charged to do. Good for you for taking action! I hope everything turn out okay.