Arkansas Teacher Earns Master’s Degree as Inspiration to Son Battling Brain Cancer

Heather High, a second-grade teacher and mother of four from Bella Vista, and her 14-year-old son Elijah have something in common - a love of gifted and talented education.

"I was in gifted and talented education when I was a kid, and now my oldest son, Elijah, who is 14, was identified for gifted and talented as well," said High, a teacher of 16 years who is a graduate student at UA Little Rock. "It runs in our family."

High recalls how exciting being in gifted and talented classes was after getting bored in her regular classes in elementary school.

"I loved the acceleration and fast pace of gifted and talented classes," High said. "I was really bored in regular classes, and having accelerated work pushed me to work harder. I also found likeminded people who made great friends."

It's the same for Elijah, who has been taking gifted and talented classes since the third grade.

"Elijah has skills like I've never seen," High said. "His dream is to go to MIT, become a mechanical engineer, and start his own car company to rival Tesla. He has high expectations. Ever since he started taking gifted and talented classes, that has been the favorite part of his day."

With her family's affinity for the subject, High has been interested in getting a degree in gifted and talented education ever since she finished her bachelor's degree. In 2021, she was working at a school that was participating in the STEM+C2 program, an evidence-based school intervention project designed to identify promising students through universal screening and provide services to gifted and talented students in second and third grade.

The STEM+C2 program is run by the Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education at UA Little Rock, and High learned about the university's gifted and talented education degree. Everything was going well in High's educational journey until Elijah was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer in September 2023.

"I could have quit then since my son, who is a GT student himself, is my inspiration for achieving this dream," High said. "I had to complete this not for myself but for him."

[Link]Heather High visits the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

High often found herself at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital with Elijah, where she would somehow find the time to complete her graduate courses online. She said she found great support from Dr. Ann Robinson, director of the Jodie Mahony Center, and Dr. Christine Deitz, associate director, who provided support and helped her find scholarships. This summer, High was the recipient of a Gene V. Campbell Scholarship from the School of Education that had a great impact on her final days at UA Little Rock.

"With my 14-year-old son battling brain cancer, three other young kids between the ages of 11 and 5, and a husband who is also a public school teacher, times are harder than ever. If I hadn't got that scholarship, I probably would have had to hold off on taking my last class this summer and graduating," High said. "The experience has been great, and I couldn't have asked for better. I want to prove that whatever you set your mind to, you can do it no matter what."

High will be graduating from UA Little Rock with a Master of Education degree in Gifted, Creative, and Talented Education at the end of the summer after completing one last class - Educational Assessments.

"After all these years, I'll finally have the master's degree that I wanted since I basically started teaching," High said. "I feel like I have lived out a dream."

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