“Truck On”—The Story Of M, The Student I’ll Never Forget | Stories From The Road #2

“For obvious reasons, we don’t get many speakers coming to our school.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to this information.

What was I getting myself into?

—

There’s a school I had the privilege of visiting this term that had a deeply profound impact on me. It was a school for young people who for various reasons, had disengaged or could no longer attend mainstream school. Many of the students had behavioral issues and severe learning difficulties. 

There’s one particular student I met who fundamentally changed something inside me. Let’s call them M. 

M put their hand up to be my volunteer for a ‘mystery boxes’ activity and they were super keen to contribute. We totally bonded. Later in the session, M came and sat next to me. I didn’t realise it but they had started writing in one of my notebooks. 

A few minutes later, I felt a tap on my arm. I turned and M was holding out the notebook to me. Here's what the note said:

By agreeing to this contract you are legally binded to come back to our school within 1 year.

Name:

Signature:

Date:

My heart melted. “M, that is so sweet. Of course I’ll come back and visit.”

The staff were impressed—it was a very smart move for M to put a deadline of one year. There wouldn’t be much point in me visiting again in five years after M has already left!

I signed the contract and continued on with the session. 

—

For this next part to make sense I need to give you some context: my partner’s nickname is Big Cat and he has a fascinating career story. Currently, he drives trucks. I decided this group would be a fantastic bunch to introduce Big Cat to. 

A photo of a guy with a giant beard popped up onto my slides and I said to the students “This guy’s nickname is Big Cat. Let’s guess what Big Cat does for work.”

The room erupted with excitement. 

“Fitness influencer!”

“Accountant!” 

“Beard oil salesman!”

There’s no doubt about it, Big Cat was a real hit among the crowd. One student finally guessed “trucker” and I explained the special kinds of trucks he operates. We then moved onto guessing the job he had before that and before that and before we knew it, we’d chewed up a solid ten minutes just with the "Guess What Big Cat Does Game". 

—

As I was packing up to leave, there was another tap on my arm. M was holding out the notebook again:

We love Big Cat

Truck on mothertrucker

Lol

It was almost too much to handle. “M, this is incredible. I’m going to see Big Cat next week, is it ok if I give this to him? I think he’ll love it.”

M went all shy, nodded and left the room with the biggest smile on their face. 

On my way out, I chatted to one of the staff members to try and understand more about the backgrounds and challenges of some of their students. It was a pretty grim picture. Abuse, drugs, crime, multi-generation Centrelink homes etc. Their prospects for the future weren’t great. Some students will enter into full time employment, many won’t.

I was blown away by the dedication, patience and strength of the teachers and staff who support these students. They believe in them and want to give them the best shot at life after school. They know they won’t always be successful but they show up everyday giving the kids 110%. 

—

As I drove away, the emotions overcame me and I broke down in tears. You never understand how lucky you are until you’re faced head on with the awful reality of what others are facing. Some of these students were born with the entire world against them. To even make it to school is an enormous accomplishment in and of itself. But each of them had a spark, something inside them that was worth believing in. 

Fortunately I was able to keep both of the notes from M. You bet they’re going to be framed and displayed at home as one of my most treasured souvenirs of the Roadshow. 

As M would say—

Truck on,

Alana

 

P.S. I was driving through Parkes, NSW this week and stopped in to see the most iconic and historically significant dish in Australia!