Progress 2018 -- Making a Difference: A mighty gift
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on February 23, 2018 11:38 AM
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A photoshopped picture of what it would look like if Andrea Freile were a guest on The Ellen Show.
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Andrea Freile, second from right, communications instructor at Wayne Community College, surrounded by some of her students, from left, Taylor Heeden, Aaron Flores, Cristina Saldivar, Gina Bixby and Carli Hinson.
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Andrea Freile and her students hold a conversation as another student records.
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Andrea Freile, communications instructor at Wayne Community College, reacts after students' presentation featuring a "mock Ellen show," based upon Freile's dream of being on the TV show, along with a photoshopped picture of what it would look like if she were a guest on the show.
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Andrea Freile, center (holding framed picture), communications instructor at Wayne Community College, along with a group of her students.
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Andrea Freile, communications instructor at Wayne Community College, discusses some of the things students can do to help publicize the disabilities office at the college and an upcoming open mic night.
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Instructor Andrea Freile watches as several students lead their classmates in a group discussion during an Introduction to Communications class at Wayne Community College. Freile often gives her students the independence to teach and learn from each other instead of lecturing for the entire class period.
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Madison Murphy and Chance Carter lead Freile's Introduction to Communications class in an activity that identifies characteristics of a person using an "iceberg" diagram.
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Full SizeAndrea Freile is barely 4-foot-11 and speaks with a lilting Latina accent -- which could have been reasons why this community might not have welcomed her, she said.
But just as she has gathered all the energy and kindness and honesty from within her tiny frame -- and big heart -- and shared it with whomever crosses her path, the ripple effect amongst her students has been particularly impressive.
"It's sounding John Lennon-ish but I love my students, sincerely love them, because I have this idea in my mind that they have been brought to my classroom for a reason and I will love them through this semester and I will love them always," she said. "A lot of my students have never been told that they're loved. A lot of them are broken and they have been hurt and stepped on.
"They have been judged and labeled and re-labeled and you tell them you love them -- because I sincerely do. It's not a job. It's a vocation. It's a gift. How blessed are we that we get to be on this journey?"
The communications instructor at Wayne Community College has had her own interesting trek to get here.
During her early teen years in Ecuador, she was part of a cast in a TV show for kids.
"Entertainment -- we called them kind of magazines -- it's like teaching songs that help you learn about honesty. We had to sing and dance, it was that connection with complete strangers," she said. "I'm 39 now, that was a long time ago.
"I try to look back and think about what helped me. I needed to make people smile. So it was the first time that I understood that a smile and laughter could change a mood and an audience."
That quite possibly set the tone for what she tries to do every for those in her classes -- help them cultivate that feeling of happiness.
Her family came to America in 1995, when Andrea was 16. They lived in Orlando for 10 years before moving to Wayne County.
Her resumé includes being community services director at the Partnership for Children of Wayne County, roles in public relations and government jobs and serving as development director for Habitat for Humanity. She earned two master's degrees, is a certified yoga instructor and has created her own hybrid textbook for her classes.
All while juggling the role of single mother to her beloved children, Bella, 14, and Jack, 3, and the challenges of fibromyalgia.
"I do have an issue with pain that I struggle with," she said. "So I'm being real with (my students) about this bucket of energy that I have.
"I tell them this, 'I honor your time and every time you're here I'm going to give you 100 percent. The materials that you're reading that I wrote for you, I have given 100 percent so it's fair to ask that while you're here with me, you honor my time, too. They understand that honoring somebody has value."
Being hired at WCC in the fall of 2015, came at a critical juncture in her life, but proved to be the precise moment it was supposed to, she says now.
"I had to evaluate what I wanted to do for the rest of my life," she said. "So I brought my experience, not only professionally but personally, and my skills along with my gifts and I thought all that combined, where can I put that where it will make a difference?
"It had to be WCC, because it's a community college but the job didn't exist so when it opened (the position) I do believe it has all led me here."
She had previous teaching experience, over a decade ago, at Frink Middle School in LaGrange and Eastern Wayne High School.
"When I came (to WCC) it really didn't take but like a week to know this is exactly where I need to be," she said. "Every single day I wake up with such a sense of purpose."
She teaches five classes a semester, in the areas of public speaking and communications, boasting a 100 percent retention rate and students signing up for additional courses simply because she leads the class.
"I hardly have any absences," she said. "I hardly have anybody drop out of class.
"They're so used to teachers just lecturing. They'll say this is nontraditional teaching but I think it's just non-traditional for them."
A classroom may be just four walls but the role of a educator has more to do with what they bring as a person. She often sheds her shoes when she teaches, she says, because she wants to be grounded.
"I have chosen to create an environment that involves inclusion," she said, explaining that term is not limited to those with disabilities. "I mean overall inclusion and acceptance.
"I think that by making this classroom one that allows for that, you now are able to have spirited exchanges of ideas because you have that environment. You feel supported by that."
Another characteristic she is known for is breaking down some of the barriers that can be equally conscious and subconscious.
"Lots of my students come into my classroom with labels -- some political, some religious -- and what they really need to know is they have the option to remove the label or to wear it but with the understanding that they can look at things from different views," she said.
Freile's insight has proven beneficial in how she tackles each situation and group of students.
"I think many would be surprised to see that these millennials, they have values and they just don't have a platform to use them," she said. "I think that's part of the formula for making the classroom successful. I spend a big chunk of the beginning of the semester listening. That allows me to then lecture, targeting the group.
"None of my classes sound alike. I truly work on a lecture around that group. Although we cover chapters, it's about making this journey one of growth."
Like any instructor with a passion for the profession, Freile is not ashamed to admit she wears her heart on her sleeve.
She says she is the happiest when she is able to witness another human being blossoming.
"It's not a secret that I will cry in class because to see a student that was so shy and so broken, suddenly you see them advocating for human rights or speaking against human trafficking," she said. "That's my fuel because I think we all have to contribute to the universe in some way while we're here."
Each and every one of her students has a gift, she maintains. In most cases, they simply have not had a facilitator to help bring it out and encourage its development.
That is one of her goals -- to help students discover who they are, she says.
"If you look at the classroom from the outside, you see all this diversity but everyone has their own purpose," she said. "It should allow them to find the best version of themselves."
One does not have to look too far or too hard to unearth testimonials on the differences she is making among those under her leadership.
Some have even embarked on a "movement" to make sure Freile's impact is recognized and rewarded.
"I have never had a teacher that I would label the 'best teacher of all time," said student Chance Carter. "Being 25 and being in school for what seems like forever, all my teachers have been just OK or pretty good and of course I had a couple really good ones along the way but never one that has changed my life.
"But on Aug. 18, 2017 I didn't know it at the moment but I had walked into the classroom that would change my whole outlook on life as well as my education and met the one teacher that they have always talked about but that I had never encountered."
Freile blushed at the accolades, calling Carter a "kind human being."
"Every semester I write a brand new speech, at the beginning and at the end, and the last one this year was based on Chance," she said. "You always hear that you're changing their lives but they're changing my life -- they're giving me so much hope."
Daniel Toler said he recognized Freile's greatness right away.
He recalled her asking the students to take a look around them, pointing out that those seated closest to them would be their group for the next 16 weeks.
"She just threw us right in there and then she gave us Legos, of all things, to play with, and said everyone kind of contribute and build something," he said. "We had to make something that represented all of us.
"Immediately the first day the five of us got a group chat going, Snapchats, we were texting each other. That was the lightbulb moment for us, that this was going to be a class like I've never been in before -- because it was so personal and like we were all intertwined immediately and I just knew it was going to be something that I'd never experienced."
Madison Murphy, an art education major, also formed a lasting first impression of the instructor.
From the beginning, Freile was very open and intent upon creating an environment conducive to the students feeling safe and accepted, she said.
"I was having some trouble with some things at home and she literally looked at me and it was like, 'You know, your family's always going to be your family and that's fine but you also get to build your own village,'" Murphy said. "She made that a really big point to me and that just, looking into her face whenever she was telling me that I could choose my own family and then that would be my new support system and they would help me get to where I need to be, is the most wonderful thing I think I could get from her."
So it was only natural that the teachable moments would replicate themselves among the recipients.
"It's a ripple effect," Toler said.
An exercise in the fall semester sparked a widespread effort.
Based on the concept of "two truths and a lie," Freile's version was "two truths and a wish" because of her belief in putting value in every word.
"My wish was to go to 'Ellen' (the Ellen DeGeneres Show)," she said. "I explained that I wanted to go to Ellen, that's my wish because I watch her every day. That's my dose of laughter.
"But the moments where she grants scholarships, as teachers we don't get recognition and students don't often get this platform."
Her students heard more than the words -- they heard her heart.
And they parlayed that into action.
"She says the universe can make things happen," said Taylor Heeden, a senior at Wayne Early Middle/College High School planning to graduate in May with her high school diploma as well as associate degree.
"It just happened," Murphy said. "Whenever you feel like somebody deserves something, not only at our college but the things that she's done for the community of Goldsboro."
Several students had a similar idea to use their voices and make their teacher's wish come true, including Gina Bixby and Heeden -- kicking off a letter-writing campaign and video to submit for the show.
It was done without Freile's knowledge, as part of an assignment to do a "cheer speech." Students secretly captured videos in class to incorporate into their presentation.
"There were no guidelines. That's one thing Miss Freile states -- she doesn't put guidelines because if you put guidelines, it holds you back. She doesn't want us to be held back by anything," Carter said.
Afterward, the video -- of the mock Ellen show, complete with one student portraying the popular host -- was posted on YouTube.
"Within the first three days there was over 1,000 views and it has been viewed in over 15 different countries," Carter said. "Everywhere from the U.S. to Ecuador, Italy, Mexico, Canada, even to Chile."
They didn't start out to have it be a big social media campaign, he added, but if that helps bring it to a reality, the students -- and Freile -- will not complain. Short of that, Carter said he is pleased to shine the light on the popular teacher.
"We need them (the community) to know that Ms. Freile deserves everything that she has worked so hard to gain and that because of her people like us, who may not really have had somewhere to fit in, like we woke up wanting to go to class, wanting to learn and wanting to express ourselves -- and not have to worry about what do I say next, what if people make fun of me? -- because it was such a safe place," he said.
"She created this environment that is like no other," Carter said.
"That we long to be a part of," Toler added.
Freile has become a combination mother figure and trusted friend, several said.
"She really pushes you to be a better person," Murphy said. "Not only because you're one of her students. I feel like if you were somebody on the street that just strikes up a conversation with her, she would like deliver that power.
"She just has that energy that she feeds to people. ... She's literally like a lightbulb."
Freile admits she was touched and humbled by the outpouring of kindness and love she has received along the way from her students.
Their effort to make one of her dreams come true has been especially special. Helping with the imagery was a photoshopped image created of her on the Ellen show, which students presented her with and now serves as a visual reminder in her office.
"My heart gets so excited," she said. "My response to this would be I hope I get to go on (the show) so that I can share about how amazing these superheroes in my classes are and so it's not about me.
"I almost wish I could get a call so I can tell (Ellen), 'Can you just carry my class there? It's about my students. That fact that a group of college students would take it upon themselves, to sneak a video, to write letters, to make this something that goes viral. It's so beautiful to think that I have inspired such energy."
REACHING THE WORLD
A student-led social media campaign to garner support for Andrea Freile, popular communications instructor at Wayne Community College, to appear on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, has picked up traction, getting views from around the world and leading to some unexpected opportunities along the way.
Because of the scope of the Internet, she has received responses from other countries, Freile said, interested in her speaking to them or sharing her experience.
"A group from Chile, they were so excited to hear that a Latina from South America is doing something in the educational arena, so I'm sending them my bio now," she said. "You know, just teachers all throughout, I've never met before, they'll say things like, 'If I can inspire my students like that,' and one of the best things that's happened to me, I've had students sign up for my class now because they want to teach."
Response from the Ellen Show is still pending, but meanwhile the community can follow its progression through several social media addresses.
The link to the video submitted to the show several months ago can be found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/NRjNEuyxGFg.
A Google or YouTube search for Ellen Freile will immediately bring up the link, says Gina Bixby, a 29-year-old student from Wilmington who spearheaded the video and letter-writing campaign.
The full-time student is working toward becoming an actuary, will graduate in May with associate degrees in science and arts. There are also posts on Twitter, at #EllenFreile.