In the district, hundreds of staff members from teachers to paraeducators to administrators work daily to contribute to student success. To uplift those that aren’t regularly, this collection aims to feature four personal stories and experiences of those that nurture Free State’s students.

As the founder and current Head of the Autism program, Erin Campbell has been a firebird since the school’s opening. She transferred over along with 110 other senior students as the first graduating class in 1998. Even at a young age, Campbell knew her passion was to help students in the special educational program.

“I’ve always been drawn to kiddos who needed more support. Even when I was a student, I chose the kid who needed more help to be in my group for group projects or in PE class. It’s always been a passion,” Campbell said.

Campbell came back as a paraeducator in 1999, and she started the Autism Program in 2009. Even with challenges along the way, Campbell enjoys watching her students grow and develop their skills as the year progresses.

“It’s gone up and down. I’ve had as many as two kids. Now we’re up to seven, which flows like a roller coaster depending on the needs of the kids,” Campbell said.

Campbell feels she connects with each of her students on a deeper level in order to create a positive and encouraging environment for them. With the help of the Individual Plans of Study program, she watches her students, whom she adores greatly, feel included within a supportive community of peers.

“IPS gives [students] a place where the adults are not their support. They have friends who are their support,” Campbell said. “If you were to walk in IPS right now, you’d see mostly adults are back here in the back. It just allows them to be themselves, and that’s how you are with your friends.”

Over the past 20 years, Heather Hilt has occupied various positions across the USD 497 district. She started as a library assistant at Broken Arrow before accepting a para role at Billy Mills Middle School where she worked with medically fragile kids for 6 years.

Now at Free State, Hilt acts as a paraeducator. Her main responsibilities include helping students during ECT, attending classes with them and taking notes for them. However, she said that splitting her time can rapidly become stressful, feeling like her attention is divided.

“It’s a lot more stressful and I feel like kids aren’t getting the full us like they should because I’m having to split up my time between the two [classes],” Hilt said.

Despite all the stress, Hilt said that the one-on-one time she spends with students allows her to create a bond with them. Once she knows the student, she said it is easier for her to teach them the content.

“I’ll take the instructions, but then I will change it so it’s easier to understand,” Hilt said. “So I might [phrase it into] something that they’re interested in.”

Hilt feels that the bonds she has made with the students goes beyond just teaching them and that she has made genuine connections with students. She said she hopes to bring joy to her students and often does personalized things for them like celebrating their birthdays.

“I have gotten close to some of my students, and I hope that they’re doing really well now that they’ve moved on, but you just don’t know where they’re at in the future,” Hilt said.

Dale Cowhart, head night custodian, has worked at the school for 13 years. According to Cowhart, he started as an entry level custodian before his promotion but has always favored night shifts.

Cowhart found his footing in Navy Intelligence out of high school that taught him specialized skills, including Russian. From there, he bounced around in law enforcement and product advertising before accepting the role as a custodian at Free State.

When he joined the crew, Cowhart said he quickly realized his favorite part of the position: fostering connections between his staff and students.

With long night hours, Cowhart relayed his hopes that students recognize the hours his workers put in daily. From cleaning up after games to setting up events like the ACT, the nighttime custodial staff works behind the scenes till 11:30 p.m. every week.

In order to deal with the variety of unexpected messes highschoolers make in a day, Cowhart finds it necessary to stay organized with routine and a quick schedule.

“Someone’s going to throw up, someone’s going to vandalize something, and those are things that you need to take care of immediately,” Cowhart said.

Despite last minute problems popping up, Cowhart still finds joy in routine interactions with students and faculty, as well as the crew he leads. The night staff employs six custodians, allowing them to form personal relationships.

“I recognize [the crews’] humanity, their desire to be professional, desire to get the job done, and let them know just how much we really appreciate that,” Cowhart said.

Lori Queen is an administrative assistant who has been working in the USD497 school district for 23 years, and at Free State for five years. Her main responsibilities include attending meetings, assisting the assistant principal and checking for any truancy paperwork. However, she noted that her primary goal for the day comes to mind while watching students enter the building.

Queen mentioned the substantial amount of truancy in students, and how she wants the office and resources provided there to help make change.

“I would hope our office environment is somewhere where students can come when they feel troubled, if they need a safe place, whatever’s going on at home, in class, with their peers,” Queen said. “It’s like what it was like with my daughters. You want to raise self supporting successful adults. You want them to be happy and healthy, and I want that for every student here.”

After working as a paraeducator at Sunflower Elementary for 18 years, Queen moved to Free State. While working with a new age group, she said she has noticed particular issues concerning teenagers with media consumption.

Queen said her enjoyment of her work and beliefs on the value of education are the main motivators for working in education. However, she added that her favorite part of the job is the environment she works in.

“Everybody I work with is awesome. We have a great team in here, and we talk and we laugh. This is my work family,” Queen said. “I look forward to coming in every day.”