JEFF JACKSON

An educator and friend to all

By: Samantha Gonzalez Gomez
ENG 2010
 He wiped down the tears that were running down her cheeks. She had just been

thrown out of her own home for unknown reasons. She was a student body officer, prom

queen, and now homeless. At this moment Jeff Jackson realized that there is more to

being a teacher than he had originally thought.

Jackson grew up in the small town of Delta in the state of Utah. Although life was

not perfect, it was home and he was content with what he had. Taking the team to state

for both football and wrestling, he was living the American dream. He was a small teen

but filled with enormous dreams. Dreams help you live through the roughest of times

Jackson said sorrowly. He knew he wanted to take his love for sports and go far with

them, but he could not. Jackson had no money for school and student debt did not

seem pleasant. However, the sky shined bright at him because thankfully, he received

an athletic scholarship at Southern Utah University and pursued football for four glorious

years.

School was hard, I am not going to lie, there were definitely times where I felt

unsure of what I was doing with my life explained Jackson. During his four years at

SUU, Jackson had several internships to help him decided which career path was for

him. He knew from the moment he stepped into the high school, interacted personally

with other students, and began to coach, that he wanted to do this for as long as he

could. Due to his love of the small town feeling he packed his bags and headed for his

hometown of Delta where he taught for a total of eight years. Although he had a

consistent job and great benefits, there was something missing. He decided it was time

for change and so, Jackson and his family moved to Salt Lake and he started at

Cottonwood high school.

 While at Cottonwood high, Jackson taught American history and coached the

wrestling team. I was exposed to a lot of different students at Cottonwood, there was

the rich and there were also refugees said Jackson. Coming from a small town with

little diversity, this was a new feeling and it was great. He was exposed to so much

more than just the average American, these were students with big dreams and he was

determined to help them achieve those dreams. With passion in his heart, Jackson

knew he could make a bigger difference than he was already making and so he packed

up his old, dusty backpack. With determination Jackson went back to school at the age

of forty-five and received his masters degree in Administration and Educational

Leadership. Shortly afterwards, he got an internship at Granger high school as an

assistant principal.

Out of all the students I have taught, the students at Granger have made the

biggest impact on me expressed Jackson. Granger is filled with students of all color,

races, and backgrounds. Jacksons first year at the new school was a great experience,

he worked closely with the student council and they made a huge impact on him. There

was a girl in the group by the name of Lily and she had a heart of gold. She was not

wealthy nor was she the most beautiful. However, she was kind to all and cared about

everyone in the most genuine way. Jackson and her became very close, they were the

best of friends. He never thought a student could mean as much to him as Lily did. He

saw the need for her to get a high quality education and he knew Granger offered her

so little of what other schools could.

In 2015, news broke out of budget cuts being proposed in public schools for a

total of sixty-million dollars. These budgets cuts would affect programs such as
concurrent enrollment and advanced placement (sltrib.com) These courses help

students advance themselves by receiving college credit while in high school. Jackson

was appalled by the new proposal made from Utah lawmakers. She (Lily) means a lot

to me, shes like my daughter and I knew it wasnt right for them to take away

opportunities from her and other students to advance themselves stated Jackson. So

the question arises, why would the state of Utah set limitations for kids attending public

school?

Several legislators objected to cutting state funding for charter schools

(sltrib.com). Charter schools are publicly funded and when legislators are opposing to

cut their funding while approving the massive budget cuts on public schools, it should

raise an alarm. Charter schools should either be funded publicly or not. Rather than

trying to take out students from public schools with bad reputations, why can we not

save the money and try to improve the public school instead? Charter schools are a

great alternative for public schools but they should either replace the public school

completely or we should not fund them. Although students have the free choice of

moving to these schools, they would not need the option if all schools offered a high

quality education.

Granger is a fortunate school as told by Jackson. 65% of Grangers population is

on free or reduced lunch, meaning we are a Title one school. On top of state funding,

we receive an extra amount of money from the federal government due to most of our

kids qualifying for free lunch he explained. These kids can barely afford school lunch,

so how can Utah lawmakers expect these kids to pay for thousands of dollars worth of

tuition? Grangers fourtane is not the same for other schools. "Kids with unpaid lunch
accounts are often embarrassed with a substitute meal of a cold cheese sandwich and

a carton of milk (foxnews.com).

Lily was on free lunch as well. She had a rough life at home and Jackson knew

everything that was going on with her. It amazed me that she could be so strong and

be such an outstanding student while she was struggling so much outside of school. Lily

graduated with the class of 2015 and was halfway done with her associates degree. Of

course if she could afford to go to a private school she would have but those necessities

would not be necessary if public education was taken seriously.

Jackson still talks to Lily on a very consistent basis. He has become empowered

by her to continue making a difference in this world in the form of teaching. I think

theres this mentality that anyone can become a teacher which is wrong. You could work

in a field for plenty of years but that doesnt mean you can teach it stated Jackson.

Teachers make such a difference in peoples lives and they do not get recognition they

deserve. Not all tax money goes into paychecks of teachers. That money is used for the

building of new schools, supplies, food, and other necessities schools need. Once the

state realizes how important it is for these students to get a good education, that is

when things will change. For now, high school students will continue to receive a

mediocre education with little to no knowledge of growing up in the adult world.

 Works Cited

Associated Press. "No Free Lunch: Donors Come Forward to Erase Students' Debts."

Fox News U.S. N.p., 31 Jan. 2017. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.

<http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/01/31/no-free-lunch-donors-come-forward-to-

erase-students-debts.html>.

"The Life of Jeff Jackson." Personal interview. 21 Mar. 2017.

WOOD, BENJAMIN. "Committee Approves $60M Cut to Utah Public Education." The

Salt Lake Tribune. N.p., 04 Feb. 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.

<http://www.sltrib.com/news/2140447-155/committee-approves-60m-cut-to-public>.