“A hero to me is someone who can inspire you, someone who makes you want to be better,” sophomore Mariah Shobande said. “In a sense, their presence just supports you in that, so your parents could be your heroes, stars could be heroes. There are people that you just look up to who make you realize your goals in life, and push you toward that.… You just want to strive not to be them, but to be like them.”
Heroes can be found almost everywhere. Senior Aiden Williams finds his inspiration in someone close to the school. Williams’ hero, Darian Cork, is a science teacher at Northwood.
“He’s very generous,” Williams said. “He has a lot of assistance in Robotics Club, and that’s how I met [him].”
Williams says that Cork uses the club as an environment to teach more than just how to build a robot.
“He has taught me the importance of character, responsibility and sometimes just not caring,” Williams said. “This was really big in robotics.… If you did everything you can do, and there’s nothing left for you to do, there’s no reason to mope…. You did your best, so move on with your life.”
Dance teacher Kristen Oakes’ hero is fellow employee Leah Wilhelm. Oakes was one of Wilhelm’s students when she was in high school.
“She has supported me through everything without judgment,” Oakes said. “When other people said I couldn’t do something, she was there.… She’s really taught me that there’s more to teaching than just what the content is in your class. She taught me to believe in myself, which sounds really cheesy and cliché, but I am an over-analyzer. I overthink everything. I always think that I’m not good enough. I always think that people are better, and she’s always taught me that if you think it’s right, go with it. If it’s wrong, you’ll know next time, and you’ll do better, but it’s okay to be wrong.”
Others at Northwood have found heroes in the people closest to them: their family. Theater teacher Kayla Sharp is inspired by her mother.
“She has overcome great adversity in her life, and she has come from very small means and created a great life for herself,” Sharp said. “I aspire to many of her qualities, not the least of which is her introspective quality. She really thinks about who she is as a person and how she can better herself consistently. She doesn’t push the blame on other people. She thinks about what she has done and how she can improve as a person, and I find that very inspiring.”
Shobande, whose hero is Lin-Manuel Miranda, the playwright and star of the musical Hamilton, is inspired by Miranda’s representation of people of color in the show.
“On Broadway, there aren’t a lot of diverse roles to play,” Shobande said. “If you’re [a black female], you either get a role in Dreamgirls or Motown. If you’re [Hispanic] like Lin-Manuel Miranda, you get to play a guy in West Side Story. He decided, ‘I’m going to write a musical for myself. I’m going to write something where people of color can play roles.’ When you learn history, it’s a bunch of white guys… and when you hear about other people of color, it’s either the Trail of Tears or slavery…. You don’t really feel connected to it. Through [Hamilton], you actually feel like you’re connecting to something, and I think that’s why he’s my hero.”
Sophomore Caleb James finds inspiration in Kanye West, despite West’s “rough patches.”
“His latest release, The Life of Pablo, was a very disorganized release,” James said. “It had lots of subpar, at least for him, tracks. Having said that, there were some spectacular tracks on it such as ‘Ultralight Beam,’ and you know, I believe in his ability to come back.… I think all great artists have rough patches, and I do think that Kanye West is one of the great artists of our time, so I think he’s going to be able to rebound.”
West has even inspired James to create music of his own.
“I’m working on two projects currently, one with a rapper at Northwood, AJ McCrea, and I’m producing the beats for our EP together,” James said. “Then I’m producing an EP of my solo work which is alternative pop songs with a hip hop influence, but also some original poetry samples, so I’m looking forward to it…. Music is my passion, and [West] has inspired it quite a bit.”
According to senior Piper Puckett, a hero is not easy to define.
“The concept of a hero has always been very complicated for me, because my entire life I’ve been very self-sufficient,” Puckett said. “I think that I would define a hero as someone who is able to see what area needs the most attention at the time, someone who’s able to put themselves first when it matters but draw back and help others.… It’s very situational, very circumstantial.”
– By Sara Heilman