Joseph Grieme

Welcome! Thank you for taking the time to visit my page and learn more about me. My name is Joseph Grieme, student of Troy High's class of 2021.

In my 11th grade year, I had the opportunity to be a part of the L.I.N.K.'s program at Troy High, a program where students are paired up with a special education student or class. This experience was a particular interesting one for me in that I was also a student who required certain accommodations, so it was real eye opening experience for me to not only see it from an outside perspective, but to also see the "behind the scenes" of special education.

Some of the things I observed, though, was heartbreaking. I was very fortunate to have an amazing support team and a mom who helped get me exactly what I needed in my mind to thrive in school. My mom drilled into my head that the only thing that was different about me was the way that my mind processed and went about learning. It didn't mean there was anything wrong about me, or that I was less of a student, or that it defined me.

Sadly, most of my students were not as fortunate as I was with this continuous encouragement that I had. The saddest insights that I heard from the teacher I was working with was that many of her students didn't even have a parent that bothered to show up at intervention meetings.

It was devastating to hear that; It made me realize that the only reason I am thriving the way I am was because I was never given up on. My mom fought day in and day out to get me the help that I needed, to speak up for me when I couldn't, to get me back up on my feet when I fell, but most importantly, to show me that my struggles do not define who I am.

So I set out each day when I worked with my students to pay that encouragement forward and to show them that I would never give up on them. Most of them felt like they were being passed around, waiting to be handed over to the next person to help them when someone else had given up.

It's not easy when you feel outcasted and "too much to handle". Most of my students were feeling that way, though. Taking the time to understand and really show someone that they are worth your time goes a very long way in making someone feel worthwhile because, after all, isn't that what everyone searches for?