Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver is a Moretown resident. The 2025 Vermont Teacher of the Year, she teaches English and History at Winooski High School.
As a teacher, I do everything in my power to uplift student voices. I publish student’s memoirs, I celebrate student’s writing of their own short stories, I listen to impassioned students’ speeches about racial injustice, I create showcases for students to share their poetry and I read countless original poems and narratives by my student authors.
I do this because I believe in the transformative power of the arts. I have seen firsthand a shy, reluctant student blossom into a captivating poet; I have seen the ripple effect of a student who finds their voice as a writer and then does well in their other classes and beyond high school; I’ve seen students who struggle in some academic areas, but when given a paintbrush or a trombone, excel. This is what the arts do: they create moments for our students to find themselves and their voice. Isn’t this what we want out of a high school experience? There are few things better in life than watching a child recognize the power of their voice. The arts give students an opportunity to do that.
It thus pains me that all local arts organizations that I work closely with are experiencing the loss of federal funding. Vermont Arts Council, The Flynn, Vermont Humanities, the Governor’s Institute for the Arts, and Vermont Folklife Center all are scrambling to make up for the loss of money that they depend upon. Each one of these organizations creates moments for my students to know that their voice and that their expression matters. From organizing student matinees of diverse performances, to funding poetry workshops and competitions, to providing teaching artists in classrooms, to working closely with students to tell their family’s stories, the work of these organizations in our classrooms is vital and essential. The arts are never an add-on to our curriculum; they are a central component of what an inclusive classroom is.
It’s really hard to be a teacher right now. The mental health crisis among our teenagers following the pandemic is ongoing while mental health federal funding is threatened, our profession seems to be constantly attacked and our federal department of education has been slashed, and the constant attack on creating classrooms and schools that celebrate diversity, equity, and inclusion is relentless. Yet, the thing is, I never lose hope because of our kids.
Teaching is an act of hope every single day. The kids give me hope: their creativity, their genius, their resilience, their ideas, their perseverance, and above all, their powerful voices.
In early May, I had the honor to travel to Washington, DC for the National Poetry Out Loud finals, sponsored by the the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. While I expected this to be an amazing experience for my student, Mapenzi Selemani, who represented Vermont as the state champion and became a regional finalist, I was struck by the impact the few days had on me as a teacher. My knowledge in the power of poetry to help us honor the human experience and the power of words to change lives was affirmed again and again.
And this is why we need you: we need Vermonters to unequivocally stand in denial of the Trump administration and make it known loud and clear that you also believe in the power of the arts. In Vermont, we believe that the arts are integral to our success and we support the arts in our full capacity.
As Elizabeth Frascoia, executive director of the Governor’s Institute of Vermont, said, we must make our voices loud in our belief in the power of the arts to transform lives and our knowledge in how vital they are for our state, our future leaders and our economy. Our students need you, as Elizabeth said, but our teachers need you, too. We need your support to do this important work with our students.
