Where Are Your Oars?
Nearly 20 years ago, a new incoming teacher named Lori Benoit stepped foot into Eisenhower. Never with the thought of teaching coming across her mind, she had somehow landed a career in education. But how did she get here?
Mrs. Benoit was born in Seattle, Washington, and then later in her life, moved to Yakima. She married her husband, David, at the age of 18, who was a childhood friend whom she grew up with. She and David had two kids. With having her children, she only had one idea of how her life would be: Marry, have kids, and stay home with her kids, which she did. She cared for her kids, taught them what she could, and would later have a lot of time when she was alone when her children began school.
With that, she began her job with the Baby Jogger Company here in Yakima and did so for some time. Later, she became heavily involved in organizing a childcare business for children who have disabilities. Down the line in her life, the Yakima School District reached out to Mrs. Benoit to teach ASL at Eisenhower. This was the first time she had ever considered teaching kids other than her own. She took this job and enjoyed it for a while but felt tired of teaching something she wasn’t quite passionate about. Because of this lack of passion for her career, she sought help from the then principal of Eisenhower. She wanted to do something she loved while still being involved with teaching. “I wanted to teach something I knew I liked, and I thought, well, I like talking. What could I teach that was just about different scenarios in life, where I could just talk?” Benoit stated to me. This is where her current class, Career Choices, began.
This class is centered around being ready for life as a young adult coming out of high school, which really is never introduced to students in school. Being ready for things such as learning how to manage taxes, how much funds go towards groceries, housing, owning a car, bills within your house, managing your own money, and basically, how to be smart and live within your means. With this class starting to sprout at Eisenhower, she began taking courses to prepare for teaching.
While on this new career path, she met her future wife, who was also taking the course classes. Benoit explained to me that she had always known that she was gay but could never truly come out to those around her because her family was heavily involved with religion and in their church, in which being gay was not accepted. This influenced the way her path went through life. But then, she came out at the age of 40. When coming out, her family or church did not support her, but that did not matter to her. Her children and David supported her, which was all she needed to feel secure. While continuing her way down teaching, she explained that she found it to be, as stated before, something she felt passionate about.
She found comfort and happiness in her teaching, but many obstacles stood in her way in recent years. Her wife had been diagnosed with cancer, leading to Mrs. Benoit coming and leaving her classroom frequently. Although she had trouble being present in the classroom, her fellow staff members told her that they supported her and that she could leave and take care of her wife when needed, which gave her a large support system.
After leaving and returning for months, another significant event in her life emerged. Covid had hit us. Many were affected in very negative ways. Benoit says, “I saw the lockdown truly as a blessing.” This was such a positive thing for her because now she could be present at her job (remotely) but take care of her wife and be attentive to her while she was very sick. The lockdown gave her more time to be with her wife and be by her side, despite all the bad. This gave her many moments with her before she passed on July 20th of 2020. After the passing of her wife, covid restrictions had become looser, and we came back to in-person learning. This hardship of being home and teaching from there, she then had to adjust back to teaching physically in front of students. Not only that, but now she has had to learn how to teach through her grief and deal with it as she was at school.
About the passing of her wife, she says that she is grateful that she went through this pathway of teaching because it led her to her wife. She found many things to be grateful for when it came to teaching. Mrs. Benoit tells me that her job as a teacher brought her her social life, a sense of security, and an appreciation for the “predictability” of her job. Through her twenty years of teaching, she especially enjoyed those she worked with. Both students and fellow teachers at Eisenhower. Their unwavering support for one another really stuck with her through personal problems and the way things worked within the school.
Mrs. Benoit said that if anything when retiring, she will miss the atmosphere that Eisenhower has always had, the memories of learning how to make a place for herself here, and all the different people she met along the way. A particular person she mentioned to me was a student she had some years ago. This student, as she said, was very in and out of class, not very focused on his education, and always seemed to be up to no good. But then, he started coming to her class every single day. He had said nothing to her ever and was completely silent. She knew his grades and understood that many students like him don’t graduate. Then one day, he walks up to Mrs. Benoit after the period ends and says, “Miss, you talk a lot. But I learn a lot from you,” and then leaves. After that, he continued to come to school but suddenly did not return. Mrs. Benoit then learns that he had gone to the Washington Youth Academy, a program designed to help students catch up in school when they are not on a path to graduating. After finishing his program his senior year, he returned to see Mrs. Benoit and gave her his Military hat. Before attending Mrs. Benoit's classes, this student had never considered his future. But when she talked, he listened and knew that she believed that any of her students could make a life for themselves no matter their environment. When gifting Mrs. Benoit his hat, he tells her that he is graduating, then, “You saved my life.” With that, she felt warmth in her heart and told me, “Those were the experiences that made me realize even more that teaching was what I was meant to do.” Mrs. Benoit says that she will miss Eisenhower, but I believe that Ike will miss her even more.
“We are all in the same boat, but without your ores, you will go nowhere. So, where are your oars?” - Lori Benoit.
