By Britt Bash ’17, Contributor
Ms. Deborah Floyd came into my life the same day I received my schedule for the 2015-2016 school year, less than 48 hours before my first day at CCDS. I was on a “scavenger hunt” with a few other transfer students during orientation and the question was “find someone who loves poetry.” When I stopped Ms. Floyd before she headed upstairs to the library and asked her if she liked poetry, she exclaimed that she did and immediately wrapped her arms around me in a big hug. I took a liking to her right away.
It turned out the bubbly, bright, beaming woman I met on the stairs would be my AP American Literature teacher, but little did I know anything about my instructor. She was kind, funny, and supportive but a question always rang in the back of my mind. What is this woman’s story? So I decided to ask her.
I had suggested Spotlight for a Scroll article and when it was approved I knew Ms. Floyd would be the first person I would talk to. We met after school, her office crowded with smiling students. When everyone had cleared out, I stole a seat across from her desk and snuggled up in her purple coat. Much like her personality, Ms. Floyd’s office is warm and inviting; school pictures of students from various graduating classes and banners from Dickinson College, where both of her daughters attend, decorate her walls.
I began the interview with a relatively simple question: what are ten things that make you really happy? Ms. Floyd responded that to her happy means contentment and fulfillment. She gave her share of answers such as being transported by a good book, binge-watching a new TV show (her current favorite is Making a Murderer), and watching her children grow up and become independent. She also replied that it makes her really happy to hear back from students on how she has made an impact in their lives, spending time with her two dogs, Sushi and Stella, and to know that she was loved “truly unconditionally by another human that was not in her family.” That person being, of course, Mr. Carey.
I had not known Mr. Carey myself but when my fellow students mention his name with downcast eyes and mournful expressions, I knew he had once played a significant role in each of their lives. It was through an Improvisation project where I learned of Ms. Floyd’s husband’s death in a drunk driving collision. Senior Sean O’Brien ’16 spoke of Mr. Carey like a fatherly figure whose death ripped his heart out of his chest. I could not imagine how Ms. Floyd felt.
She told me she often finds herself wondering what would have happened if Mr. Carey had not died and in her darkest moments, she finds herself drawing upon the wise words of Ralph Waldo Emerson who wrote that “nothing divine dies.” In her heart she knows that Mr. Carey is always with her. This assurance coupled with the meaningful work of teaching enables Ms. Floyd to get through the difficult process of grieving. Unfortunately, Mr. Carey wasn’t the only significant person Ms. Floyd has lost: the list also includes her mother and her younger brother, Mike. For each person Ms. Floyd has dedicated a tattoo. Ms. Floyd explains, “People get tattoos for many different reasons, but mine is deeply personal. For me, it is ritualistic—almost trial–act, a means of making permanent that which is so transient.”
When asked what she would tell her high school self, Ms. Floyd smiled and replied “You rock!” She told me about how insecure she was in high school and despite many people begging her to see herself the way others do, she has only as an adult been able to look back and see how strong she was even then and wishes she’d had the self-assurance and acceptance then that she has now. Ms. Floyd had it all going on in high school; she was smart, pretty, an actress and also part of the drill team, but like many high schoolers today she failed to realize her own greatness. Lessons she hopes students would take away from her include the realization that “now” doesn’t matter in the long run and that “love wins”—always.
Another inspiration she would like to share is from Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise.” Three word so simple, but yet essential in the reassurance that despite what happens, from disappointment to death, we can “still rise.” Ms. Floyd told me that she hopes she has modeled that type of moral resiliency and that her students will find their own deep wells of strength and know that no matter how far they might get knocked down they can always rise back up.
Ms. Floyd is not only teacher at Cincinnati Country Day, but also a role model, a teacher, a widow, a Sagittarius, a nature-lover, a poet, but most importantly a strong and beautiful soul that has lived a joyous life despite many tough times. Ms. Floyd’s radiance affects all of those around her and will continue to shine, inspiring more and more “scholars” whose school photos and mementos of thanks will also adorn the walls of her warm and inviting office.
