“…With liberty and justice for all.” A few muted voices echo around me as the final refrain of the pledge plays out of the tiny speakers, and I take a seat without thinking, believing the ritual is over. It’s my first day at John Marshall High School in San Antonio, and I am simultaneously excited and terrified.
Imagine my surprise when the pledge was not, in fact, over. My students quickly removed their right hands from their chests and rotated them outward, palms facing out and fingers facing upwards. “Honor the Texas flag,” they begin. “I pledge allegiance to thee Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.” With that, they sit, and I am left stunned—my first moment of Texan culture shock. Even after only five months here, I can say with complete honesty that there is nothing more quintessentially Texan than the existence of a separate state pledge. Runner-up goes to the fact that all seventh grade students take “Texas History” as their history credit for the year.
I chose San Antonio out of a desire to experience a place and a student population entirely different from anywhere else I had previously explored. Though I love to travel, Texas was a place that remained unchecked on my bucket list, and I moved here sight unseen—an experience that I can’t recommend enough. Being thrown into something new was simultaneously terrifying and rewarding, and my students and coworkers were wonderful guides to all the new Texan things I had been, in their opinion, too long deprived of.
My students were obsessed with Big Red, a soda that can only be described as “bubbly red 40,” and trips to the nearby fruteria during their lunch hours. I was obsessed with the taquerias at every turn—I’m not sure how I’ll cope when I return to the Midwest and am left deprived of the unbelievable gift to Earth that is the breakfast taco. And every adult who found out I was from out of state excitedly asked me, “Have you been to H-E-B?,” Texas’s grocery chain that, to be frank, is just as good as people say it is.
Moving somewhere new was, of course, not all sunshine and roses. I was lonely at times and frequently missed familiar faces and places. But pushing myself out of my comfort zone and taking this opportunity to explore something new—regardless of the inevitable discomfort that accompanied that push—was worthwhile beyond words. Working with the student population here at Marshall was one of the most rewarding experiences I could’ve ever asked for, and meeting students who recently immigrated from North Africa, the Middle East, and beyond was an incredible experience. One of my sweetest students came to the U.S. from Afghanistan one year ago. I don’t have the words to express how amazing it was to help introduce him to the American experience while also learning from him about a broader world to which I was a complete stranger.
Regardless of where you go, student teaching is an arduous and exciting experience. There were times when I resented being alone, being unpaid, and yearning for my old familiar college courses and campus. But despite all this, as I write with henna on my hand drawn by one of my kind students from the ESL club, I can say with complete honesty that this has been one of the most transformative and gratifying experiences of my life—and given a chance, I would never change my choice to travel to San Antonio.
True to legend, Texas is a truly unique place. Many outsiders have an image of white supremacist cowboys bucking “The Man” and shooting out into the sunset on their stallions, one hand on their cap and the other gripping their pistol. This is, of course, a complete misconception. The real Texas is much more welcoming, much more diverse, and leagues more beautiful than those who would rely on stereotypes would ever believe it to be.
