Graduation Day: A Fortuna Teacher Celebrates with her First Grade Class

Janell Hodges refers to the time between beginning her quest to become a teacher and her eventual triumph as one of life’s seasons. It was a season in which she became a mother, adopting her first son Samuel in 2006, and finding out he had special needs that required extra care and multiple surgeries. She had applied to attend Cal Poly Humboldt but becoming a full-time student wasn’t an option, so Hodges pivoted to working as an In-Home Supportive Services care provider.

“I needed to get him raised and go through all the things he needed,” Hodges says. “It was just a season in my life.”

That season ended and a new one began this spring, when Hodges celebrated her graduation from California State University at Fresno, having earned her teaching credential while interning at Linell K. Walker Elementary School in Fortuna. In the intervening decade, she volunteered for CASA, Hospice of Humboldt and the Humboldt County Coroner’s Office. Her family grew as she married, fostered her nieces and adopted a second son, Luke, who is now 9. Samuel, 17, is about to start his senior year at Fortuna High School.

Hodges always knew she wanted to continue her education but wrestled with finding a path forward that would be economically feasible for her family. She needed to work. She needed to be available to her kids. But all the while she nurtured an old dream, one that began with a crocheted red heart in her third grade teacher’s classroom.

“I grew up in a pretty dysfunctional family,” Hodges says. “I grew up in a home where there was abuse, drugs and all the other things. My [Adverse Childhood Experiences] score is like a 10.”

Hodges grew up in Woodleaf, about an hour away from Chico in the foothills. Most of her family was illiterate. As a child, she often had to go with family members to appointments to help them interpret forms, trying to do so stealthily because they didn’t want anyone to know they couldn’t read.

“I didn’t realize how much it cripples your life,” she says, referring to her mother’s illiteracy. “After I moved, she couldn’t come see me because she couldn’t read signs.”

Hodges’ life was changed by the intervention of her teachers, particularly June Reinke, who taught third grade at Yuba Feather Elementary School in Challenge, California.

“She had this room called the ‘heart room,’” Hodges explains. “Every book you read you would get a heart that would go across the walls of the room. She had a crocheted red heart that was the prize for the student that read the most books.”

Hodges, who up until third grade had struggled with reading, decided she wanted that crocheted heart. With her teacher’s encouragement, she set to earning it, and dove into reading.

“I still have the heart,” she says. “It’s one of my most prized possessions. That was the year I finally learned to read. They say if you’re not a reader by third grade, you never really become that great of a reader. I defied that statistic.”

Reinke was one of many teachers in Hodges’ life who steered her toward a sense of purpose and her ultimate career.

“Every kid needs a successful person in their life who loves on them and cares for them,” Hodges says. “My teachers were the people who believed in me, gave me the sense I could be better than what I thought I was capable of.”

After graduating from Marysville High School in 2000, Hodges attended Shasta College. Soroptimist International of Yuba City awarded her a $500 scholarship, which paid for her first semesters’ worth of textbooks.

“I was always appreciative of them,” she says. “It was the only scholarship I received. I love that they didn’t skip over me … it always kind of gets me. I think we always need to look for the kids who have all the things stacked against them. I showed up to receive it in my best dress.”

As her boys grew older and needed less of her time, Hodges considered her next steps. She dipped her toes back in the waters of education by becoming a substitute teacher, eventually taking a long-term placement at Ambrosini Elementary. Then she learned about the California State University teaching credential program, which offers an online path to becoming a general education teacher. Hodges, still following her heart, began attending online classes through Fresno State.

In 2022, she was offered a full-time internship as a first-grade teacher at Linell K. Walker Elementary School and taught the 2022-2023 school year while carrying a 16-unit course load. Her students, fellow teachers and administrators contributed to her accreditation by accommodating video recordings of her work, classroom observations and other requirements.

The internship and credentialing program are two of several steps the state is taking to address a massive teacher shortage, along with reducing or eliminating many fees. Hodges says she believes these changes will open up the field to more people like her who want to become educators but can’t afford not to work while pursuing a credential. She adds she’s grateful for the Fortuna Unified School District’s support of her dream.

“There was a lot of commitment on behalf of the whole crew,” she says, adding her next step will be earning a master’s in literacy education.

When it was time for Hodges to walk in the spring, she knew who she wanted to share her big day with. Rather than traveling to Fresno, she had her students decorate a sash she received from the National Society of Leadership and Success. On June 2, she draped the sash over her graduation gown, put on her cap and walked down the steps of the elementary school. Her students waited on the lawn with their backs turned as Sandi Petersen, a local photographer, documented the big day.

“The greatest thing I hope to do is help those kids who come from bad circumstances,” Hodges says. “It’s your choice, you can surround yourself with people who are going to champion you. For all intents and purposes, this is not how my life should have turned out. We need to not underestimate the power of the difference we can make.”

Hodges told her students repeatedly that she was proud of them, that her success was their success, because of all they contributed toward her degree.

“They’ve been in the journey with me,” she says. “They were so excited about the cap and gown.”

In Petersen’s photos that excitement is evident. The kids turn. Hodges opens her arms. The future runs to her.

— Linda Stansberry

POSTED 07.18.23