I came to Carlisle to attend Dickinson College in 2007. I moved around a few times in my childhood and adolescence – I lived in Missouri, then upstate New York, and graduated college outside Baltimore, Maryland. On paper, Dickinson wasn’t my first choice college, but I came for a visit, and I immediately felt at home here. The town is just warm – the professors I met at Dickinson asked me about my history and the books I liked; one professor heard me say I liked African literature and started a conversation with me about Ousmane Sembene, one of my favorite authors. I felt noticed in a really new way, and even though I was just this high school kid who hadn’t even applied to Dickinson yet, it seemed like the people there wanted to know me and talk to me. When we ate lunch in town, one of our servers was a Dickinson student and asked if we were there for a visit; when she found out we were, she told us story after story about how much she loved it and Carlisle. It was this sort of miracle college visit – the town just opened its arms and invited me in. I never looked back, and I turned down a Dean’s Scholarship at two other colleges to come here.

I think it’s simple for adults to forget the degree to which teenagers feel invisible a lot of the time, even when they receive extensive accolades at school. For me – and, I’ve found now, for many of my students – those achievements always felt tainted by “just high school,” like somehow PSAT scores or scholarship awards didn’t mean anything in the “real world.” We do that, adults – we take some of the magic away from those things. I’ll never forget the way that those Dickinson professors made me feel on campus that day, like I was real and my opinions and thoughts were valid. It wasn’t a test. It was a conversation between worthy adults. I try to infuse my teaching with that, remembering the impact that respect had on me at 17.

I met my husband, Dave, at Dickinson, during my first week on campus. He and I stayed together all through college, got engaged my senior year, and married the year after. I was only 22. Five Dickinson professors came to our wedding, as did most of the staff of Dickinson Dining Services, where we both worked throughout college. He isn’t from Carlisle either – he grew up outside Pittsburgh – but, like me, he fell in love with this community. There was no taking him out, and he went to Dickinson School of Law while I started my teaching career at Carlisle High School. Both of our children were born here and will go through Carlisle public schools. Secretly, I hope they go to Dickinson too. This is our home.

I work at Carlisle High School, serving as a ninth-grade English and AP Research teacher. It’s the best job. I have gotten to know so many people in this community, and over and over, I am reminded of how full of love and wonder this community is. One of my favorite experiences is going to see a movie or sitting in a restaurant and hearing, “Mrs. Park!” from across the room. Before I even look up, I know it will be wonderful. Now that I have been teaching for awhile, a lot of grown adults are still calling me, “Mrs. Park,” which is kind of funny and nostalgic. There’s nothing quite like being a teacher and being recognized as a teacher, years later, by students you loved and knew when they were young.

My husband, Dave, and I are both really active in the community. Dave works at Martson Law right on High Street and eats lunch almost every day at local restaurants. He sits on the Board of the United Way, and I chair CASD’s United Way campaign. We are both really passionate about that organization – Carlisle has been such a wonderful center for us, for our family. The United Way Serves that community that we love so much in so many ways. It deserves our help and our attention.

We have two toddlers, Zoe (3) and Xander (2), and they attend the Carlisle Early Education Center (CEEC), where I serve on the Board of Directors. CEEC is just another wonderful place where we can see the diversity and warmth of the community coming together – my children are in classes with other children who light up their days and who don’t always look or talk or act like them, but who ARE like them, in hearts and minds and childhood. That’s really important to me, for my children to grow up knowing that human beings are human beings, and that we are all so different, and that’s not just OK, that’s awesome and powerful and why our community is great. Zoe, my 3-year-old, said to me the other day that all people are “different kinds of brown,” and that, “it makes the world so pretty, like a rainbow!” She learned that here, from her school and her community and her friends. That’s the world I want for my children. That’s the Carlisle I love.

I love the people of Carlisle. This community is a true community. Jeff Wood at Whistlestop knows me and says “hi,” when I come in and asks about school. Ryan Twigg at Helena’s knows my “regular” and goes out of his way to say hello to me and my children when he sees us in town. I went to Grand Illusion, the new cider bar, just the other day, and spent about 30 minutes chatting with the owner there. The entire staff at Mummert Chocolates knows Zoe, my 3-year-old, and makes her feel like a celebrity when she walks through the door. I see students, former students, parents, shop owners, daycare teachers, and colleagues everywhere I go, and they always stop to chat. Even strangers, people I don’t know, make eye contact, smile, compliment my shoes, or comment on the weather. I made a joke recently that Carlisle is a real-life Stars Hollow, and it’s really true. The people here make the community wonderful.

With those people come kindness and true activism. As a teacher, I love watching young people engage with our community and become participatory members in the American democracy. My colleague Kevin Wagner, our Social Studies department chair, dedicates countless hours to CHS’s award-winning Model UN team, and I am so inspired watching our students throw themselves into the work of international relations, compromise, research, and persuasive speech. These kinds of opportunities – and there are SO MANY of them at Carlisle High School – are the things that inspire our students to take action. I don’t always agree with the stance my students take, but I am always inspired when I see them voicing their opinions, taking a stand, speaking for their beliefs, voting, contacting legislators, volunteering for campaigns. These young people that I teach are sometimes painted as apathetic or entitled, foolishly seeking attention through ridiculous antics, but that is not what I see in my students. Every day, I work with students who are passionate, funny, and interested in what they do. My students make me laugh. They ask powerful questions about the world and about the literature we read. They engage in important debates on social media about social justice and racism and equality. They de-stigmatize depression and anxiety through courageous truths and honest portrayals of their lives. They welcome difference. Not one student in Carlisle has eaten a tide pod, as far as I know.

When a teacher was hurt recently by a student, the students of CHS rallied together behind her. I watched students give her hugs and high fives as they walked by her room. Students brought her homemade cookies, cards, gift cards, and gifts. People shouted their love for her down the hall. Her seventh period class pooled money and bought her flowers. That’s the Carlisle I know – warmth. Support. Love. Kindness. That’s who I see day in and day out in my job. It’s not that nothing bad ever happens here; it’s that when the bad does happen, the people rally together, forming support groups, providing structure and hope and help.

I would just love to watch this community grow and embrace its diversity. I am particularly excited to see how Margee Ensign, the new president of Dickinson, encourages increased connection between Dickinson and the Carlisle community. The new scholarship for Carlisle residents is such a wonderful opportunity to bring these two powerful communities together – I am so excited to see what else Ensign proposes and supports. I know that this community is rich with leadership; I think there are many opportunities for all of the leaders of Carlisle to come together and initiate more opportunities, advance more positive agendas, and support the young people of this community.

I also hope that the students of this community stay galvanized. I said in my speech on Sunday that I’ve never been more proud of teenagers in my life than I have in the last three months, and I mean that. I have always admired adolescents, and it has been inspiring to watch juniors and seniors, my students and former students, come together to organize and make change. I hope that they continue to do so and ignore those who belittle them. I hope they push through the barriers in front of them and become the future we need. We have been waiting for these young people – they are delivering. – Ellie Park, Teacher at Carlisle Area High School