Savannah Branon (Swimming & Diving, Boston College) grew up in Jacksonville. HelloNation asks student athletes one question about the place that raised them and records the answer on camera. This is Savannah Branon’s, in full.
The question
Tell us about a teacher or mentor from high school who challenged you the most or inspired you in a way that still shapes who you are today. Who are they, and what lesson from them do you carry into your life now?
The answer, as recorded
Transcript. What follows is a transcript of the video above, in Savannah Branon’s own words. It has not been rewritten, and no part of it was drafted for them.
So, fun fact about me. I actually went to two high schools in Jacksonville. One of them was the Bowles High School. When I was halfway through my junior year, I transferred to Bowles. It felt like everything had shifted, coming from an Episcopalian school with strict class procedures to a boarding student-athlete central school with an emphasis on the freedom of the student to carve their course in life. And at the center of it all was my new AP Language and Composition teacher, Mrs. Klub. At first, honestly, she was one of the hardest teachers I ever had. Her standards were far beyond what I was used to, her quizzes were tough, and she didn't even let anyone or anything get past her. I remember sitting in her class one day, thinking, there's no way I'm going to keep up. But by the end of my junior year, we started getting closer. She loved my essays and my writing style, especially when I talked about my mom. While she pushed me to be better, she also met me where I was at and gave me incentives to try new things. She's actually the reason why I joined the Writers Studio, to help new students like me adjust to the expectations of being a student-athlete at Bowles and to being in the AP Language and Composition class. She'd often tell me, the more details the better, because nothing can show you that something is truly yours if you can't put a little glitter on it. Even in that, even in the water, I find that lesson useful. It's the moments where I need to critique every detail in my stroke to know that it's truly perfect and, ultimately, mine. In a way, Mrs. Club didn't challenge me academically, but she taught me to strive for more and perfect everything, which is something I still do today.
Recorded by HelloNation as part of its athlete voices program and published by Hello Newswire, HelloNation’s good news newswire. The words are the speaker’s own.
Reported by Hello Newswire.