Akron Life September 2023

saw him was nothing I’d ever seen be fore,” she says. “I felt it to my core: This is what I’m meant to do.” While she was principal at the nontradi tional Bridges school, she saw 10 percent of students each year reintegrate back to their home schools — which aren’t as rigorous — and compassionate relation ships made the difference. “Becoming a predictable force in their life, that builds a relationship of trust,” she says. “When a child trusts you … they begin to take risks academically, socially and behaviorally.” She saw students begin to implement coping skills and use kind words when things escalated. Bridges added a high school in 2018, and Davis has seen stu dents graduate who might have struggled at a traditional school. “I have seen firsthand the impact of not only telling a child that I love them unconditionally but continuing to show up for them every day,” says Davis, her voice breaking with emotion. “I abso lutely saw students who were marginal ized start to believe they were enough.” Poverty, domestic violence, gun violence, drugs, homelessness and food insecurity — some I Promise School students and their families have experienced trauma, says Victoria McGee, senior director of the school’s Family Resource Center. During the pandemic, needs skyrocketed. There have been higher levels of food insecurity and housing, addiction and mental health challenges, she adds. All that impacts students’ abilities to learn. “You’re worried about where you’re going to lay your head or are you going to have food at night — trauma brain works differently,” McGee says. “If you don’t have the correct resources, that student will likely have a slower process

remediate missing skills and build more wraparound services and sup port for positive behavior. The challenges don’t daunt Davis because overcoming obstacles is her background. “One of the gifts of being an in tervention specialist is the ability to see the child in front of you. … Intervention specialists come from a place of breaking down barriers to make instruction accessible,” Davis says. “I love that the mission of the school is identical to the mission in my heart.”

At just 8 years old, Davis saw her future. The King Elementary School third grader took a field trip to Weaver School and Workshop for students with disabilities. A special education teacher interact ing with a student using a wheelchair caught her attention. “The way she approached the child in a way that was not condescending and looking at him like she really

27

SEPTEMBER 2023 | akronlife.com