Stevi WIlson

Supporting kids, both here and abroad

Emma Vallelunga

Stevi Wilson believes she’ll never retire from teaching.

She continues to educate and give back through charity and non-profit work because education is about more than just the day’s lecture — it’s about learning the life lessons, taking challenges in stride and being the ear to listen or the shoulder to cry on. Even as a Spanish teacher, Wilson has more than 30 years of experience in seeing what the power of education can do for people of all ages.

As a Long Island native, Wilson came to the Central New York area after receiving her bachelor’s from SUNY Oswego and master’s from Syracuse University. Her first job out of college, teaching Spanish at East Syracuse Minoa High School, was when she fell in love with teaching, thanks to the school’s principal at the time.

“I’ve loved my job from the day I started teaching,” Wilson

said. “I used to tell my first principal, who was a true leader and an amazing man, that I would [teach] for free. He cared deeply for the kids and the teachers. He was like a second dad to me, and he helped mold me into the educator that I became.”

Wilson taught at ESM full-time for many years, serving as advisor to many student clubs and presenting at teacher workshops locally and statewide, but then switched to part-time in 2019, not looking to fully retire. Still searching for ways to stay in the classroom, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, she taught courses throughBOCES, virtually for middle school Spanish classes based in Louisiana and New Jersey and higher-education as an adjunct professor at LeMoyne College. “That’s the piece [of me] I’ll never let go of,” she said. “Every single thing I did that involved teaching was a positive experience. Even if I retire, I will always be teaching. Even if it’s part-time, I don’t ever plan on not teaching.”

For the last 15 years of her teaching career, Wilson has fundraised, donated and organized group trips with students, faculty, family and friends to benefit orphanages in the Dominican Republic in order to not only help acommunity in need but also provide a charitable and life-changing experience for others. “When I bring groups to the Dominican Republic to volunteer at orphanages, I feel like I’m teaching other people, sometimes very privileged kids, to be empathetic, to see commonalities in things that look different,” she said. “We bring back more than we ever could bring [to] them. When I bring back people who have served, they want to do it again and again. I’ve had people who have gone on trips with me for 10 years. I don’t know if I could ever stop doing it. It’s such an important part of who I am.”

That positive word-of-mouth from past trips spread quickly, and Wilson was eventually able to turn her charity into an official non-profit, Esperanza Dominican Outreach, about five years ago. Today, she continues to fundraise through different school districts in the area and recently organized a small informal trip to the DR last month for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.

“I had a trip scheduled for last summer, and I knew [what was happening] just before March, so I canceled the flights and got my money back, but I actually had people going on that trip who were mad at me,” she said. “Thank God I canceled when I did because it all got shut down, but I did manage to ship boxes and Christmas gifts this year once shipping opened back up.”

In the classroom back home, Wilson loved Spanish language and culture, so she often used creative, entertaining and out-of-thebox methods to teach her students. Incorporating Spanish music into their vocabulary, celebrating Spanish holidays and even sending out personalized gifts that go along with their lesson plans are just a few of things she does to make kids feel engaged and excited about being in class.

“I took every lesson that I did and turned it into a life lesson, even though it was a Spanish lesson,” she said. “It really meant a lot to these kids. I’m always thinking of ways to make [lessons] better.”

But Wilson also knew some kids had more struggles in their home lives than just their homework. Over the years, she had many students feel comfortable confiding in her about their personal situations, such as domestic violence and sexuality.

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Wilson said she was moved by the strength of these students to not only go through those challenges but also be able to come to her in a time of need, especially when her interactions with students could only be done through Zoom.

“I’ve learned over the years that I’m so much more than a Spanish teacher,” she said. “My classroom is always open for kids. I truly believe you can make a difference in a kid’s life by witnessing them and hearing them and supporting them through a difficult time, especially last year with COVID. These kids need more than just two-plus-two is four and ‘Hola, cómo estás?’ I just feel like one social worker in a school can’t do all that work, and I think people don’t realize that that’s what we do as teachers.”

When COVID-19 was a larger threat to the safety of children nationwide, many teachers struggled to connect with their students. Compared to an in-person teaching environment, Wilson said students wouldn’t complete their assignments, participate in lessons or even turn their cameras on in the virtual classroom. Some failed her classes altogether, but Wilson said she believes in using empathy and understanding to put kids and students first.

“I always told them that no matter what I’m there for them,” she said. “Not a lot of my BOCES kids were successful, but at least they knew that I was there every single day. [I always said], ‘If you have any questions,’ ‘If there’s anything you need to talk about,’ ‘It’s never too late to turn it around.’ At least they knew they had someone that cared that would help them through.”

No matter what the subject is or the challenge presented, Wilson said she hopes other educators can find common ground with their students, whether it’s in a real classroom or through a computer screen, to help future generations grow into people.

“I think the goal as an educator is to build those connections with kids so that they feel supported, because sometimes, they’re not getting [support] at home, and sometimes they just need a second person to hear them,” she said. “Those are the kids that end up being successful and change their behavior and how they see the world because somebody cares, and [educators] can make that difference just by listening.” SWM