This school year, after coming back from distance learning, Selma High has continued to expand its growing family, not only with students, but also with new staff members. One of these new teachers is Gertrude Cole, Selma High’s newest 9th-grade Health teacher.

This year embarks Cole’s 27th year of teaching. In her previous years, she has taught in Alabama, Japan, Los Angeles, and Selma. This is her first year teaching Health here at Selma High. She has also taught Health at Abraham Lincoln as well for 7th graders.    

As well as others, coming back from distance learning has affected her.

She realized how much the pandemic affected her when she never saw people at all, due to her higher risks of attaining COVID-19, she wasn’t able to see students for a very long time. 

“I noticed the change in social behavior that the students have,” states Mrs.Cole. “No more black little squares on Zoom!”

Due to the vaccines, people now feel much more comfortable in public.

“Very grateful when shots came out!” elucidates Mrs. Cole.

She loves that now she can socialize with kids and help them actually learn!

“The people [here] are really nice! They’re really open and welcoming,” she states. “Everyone’s very intelligent, so it’s very fun. I learn lots of new things every day from students and teachers.”

One main difference that Cole has noticed from distance learning is the amount of work students do. At home, around 90% of students didn’t do their homework, however, at school, around 97% of students completed their work. It’s visible that students prefer coming back to school rather than being at home and doing distance learning!

Cole has decided to pursue teaching in Health because she knows that she could be helping students learn, while she herself learns to manage her own health. 

Something Cole looks forward to this year are finals and tests. 

“Seeing finals and tests and kids achieving and feeling like they got something done because… at home, a lot of kids got depressed or lonely. So it’s nice to see them amongst their friends! Sometimes, they’ll complain about so much work, but they’re happy to be learning.”

Apart from teaching, Cole enjoys hanging out with family, reading books, and watching USC Trojan football. She is an aunt of 13 and a great aunt of 13. Lots of children within the family! 

One thing that wanted to let students know was if you’d like to attend the University of Southern California, come talk to her! She’d be more than happy to help you apply!