First, let me introduce myself. My name is Ms. Stamper and I am the one who was supposed to be standing here in front of you today. Some of you may know me from last year, some of you may have never met me. So, let me take a minute to tell you about myself. This is my 4th year at Sebring High School and I teach Intensive Reading and was starting a new class this year, AP Psychology. I am relatively new to Sebring. I moved here in 2012 from Africa. Yes, you heard that right. AFRICA. I actually grew up there. You may see a few pictures from there on the board at the front of my classroom. I graduated from high school in Africa and after I graduated from college (here in America), I went back to Africa and lived there for 12 years before moving to Sebring. So yes, I’ve been chased by elephants, charged my rhinos, had encounters with poisonous snakes. But we’ll save all that for later.
What I want to do now is tell you why you are not seeing me standing in front of you. I am a planner. I make lists of things to do and make plans well in advance of what I need to accomplish. I had planned to meet you during open house, for those who came. I had planned to be standing at the door the first day of school. However, that didn’t happen. Despite our best planning, sometimes life takes turns we aren’t expecting and we have a choice; get mad and quit or make adjustments and move forward.
On the Sunday before the first day of school. I went to the emergency room with some pretty serious problems. In fact, it was so serious that they quickly took me by ambulance to Tampa, started running tests and scheduled me for surgery right away. Now I’m not sure what all you’ve been told or rumors you may have heard, but I want you to hear the truth straight from me. I had a brain tumor and had surgery to remove it. The tumor has turned out to be cancer. I spent 8 days in the hospital in Tampa, some of that time being in ICU, but I’m back home in Sebring. Now I’m doing therapy to gain back my strength and am receiving daily radiation and chemo treatments to finish dealing with the cancer.
This was certainly not how I planned to start the year. However, like I said, sometimes life takes turns we don’t expect and we have to decide how we are going to handle those turns. I have chosen to move forward. That means a journey ahead that I’ve never experienced with challenges I’ve never faced. But that’s OK because I’m not a quitter and I will keep trying and keep moving forward – AND SO SHOULD YOU. I know you all face challenges too. Don’t quit. You’ve got this, whatever it is. Make the adjustment necessary and move forward.
So where does this leave us now? Well, my return to SHS depends on when the doctors finish the treatments and say I can go back to work. That may still be a little while. However, I am anxious to get back and meet all of you. In the meantime, do your best. I always expect that from my students.
Ms. Stamper
My Deb! Always thinking of others! <3 Jenn
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