The Interview Essay.

No one knows teenagers better than teenagers themselves, but one woman comes close. Her name is Stacey Wigant and as a high school Spanish teacher she speaks three languages: English, Spanish and Teenager. It is no wonder considering she is surrounded by high school students five days a week from 8:20 to 3:15. She knows about their dreams and their dramas, their accomplishments and their downfalls, all the while keeping her rowdy classrooms full of students constantly on their toes. Being a teacher is a challenging job, but being the kind of teacher that students can confide in is even more of a challenge. Because of her passion for teaching and her students, I knew that Mrs. Wigant would be the perfect person to interview when it came to finding some insight into my quest. For thirty days I have chosen to face my personal fears of judgment and criticism and reach out to three different people everyday who I have classified as “unapproachable”. I chose a very personal quest and therefore I wanted to seek out some comforting thoughts and insight. I couldn’t help but mull over questions like: Do others feel just as self-conscious as I do when I have to answer a question in math class? Does the self-proclaimed ladies man ever get nervous around a really cute girl? Does everyone see that big ol’ zit on my chin, or am I the only one? I turned to Mrs. Wigant with these questions with hope that her advice would aide me as I undergo my quest and face my fears.

As I walked into Mrs. Wigant’s classroom the morning of our interview, I was a tad nervous. I suddenly realized as I climbed the steps to her room that there was one major thing I had forgotten to prepare for: her history! What if Mrs. Wigant was a confident prom queen who never once had a zit her whole high school life? What if everyone had bowed when she entered the room like they do for the Queen of England? If so, then this would not be the interview I was hoping for. I was used to feeling judged by my classmates, but I wasn’t prepared for Mrs. Wigant, someone I have long looked up to, to judge me as well. Not only would judgment like that hurt me personally, but it also might be a major set back to my barely off the ground quest! In this world, life isn’t fair so of course my previous fears were confirmed right after I asked my first question. When asked I asked Mrs. Wigant to rank her high school self-confidence level on a scale of one to ten, Mrs. Wigant declared herself an eight.
“I was an 8 definitely!” she said happily as my excited grin was replaced with a face of disappointment as I tried to think of something to say. Luckily, Mrs. Wigant spoke first and ultimately saved our almost capsized interview.

“That is… if you don’t include boys! I was a nervous wreck around boys! If it was partner work in school I was fine, but not one-on-one. I always got embarrassed and turned bright red!” she said with a giggle before adding, “If only I knew then what I know now!” She has two adorable children and a husband who are always at the center of her “classroom related” stories so I think it is safe to say that Mrs. Wigant definitely out grew her fear of boys! It was comforting to see that even the people who seem totally put together have some issues.

With our interview saved and off to a better start, I decided to delve deeper into the subject of teen confidence. According to Mrs. Wigant everyone has some self-confidence issues, even the people who you wouldn’t expect to. I couldn’t help but laugh when Mrs. Wigant stated matter of factly, “I remember one day I had a zit that I was sure everyone was staring at! … Until the next day when I looked around and realized, ‘I’m not the only one!’” This may not have been a profound quote worthy of a frame made out of bullet proof glass, but it made me realize how important it is to laugh at yourself! Being prone to falling and other various forms of embarrassment from an early age, I am very used to laughing at the dumb things I do, but I never thought to use my laughter to keep my classmates opinions of me at bay.

My favorite moment of the interview came next when Mrs. Wignat said, “Self -confidence is a huge deal for high school kids in the fact that they are so worried with what others think and yet what’s funny is that half the time no one notices!”
Perhaps you can imagine my face of pleasant surprise when I heard this ground breaking statement! All this time I had thought my classmates were judging every move I made when it turns out they couldn’t care less! What a relief!
Those who have class with her everyday know that Mrs. Wigant loves to share life lessons and hand out advice almost as much as she loves conjugating verbs and coming up with clever projects so of course I was waiting to hear what she had to say about how to improve one’s self confidence! She didn’t let me down. Her advice to those who are struggling with their self-confidence was this, “The biggest thing is [to not] put yourself in this little shell, put yourself out there bit by bit… Your biggest fear is yourself.”

She recommended getting involved too! “Get involved in things!” she advises. “By involving yourself, you can no longer hold yourself back!”

It turns out we both agree that self-confidence is a finicky business. True, the negative opinions of others are what continue to hurt a person’s confidence like lemon juice irritates a wound, but in the end the fault lies within the person for letting those negatives affect them in such a powerful way! Only you can let others hurt you so therefore only you can hold yourself back from reaching your full potential!


As our interview came to a close, Mrs. Wigant offered one last tip. “Everyday is a new day,” she said. To me that statement was a real comfort. Everyday offers a new beginning and a new chance. Just because I might have been un-confident in the past doesn’t mean that it is too late to change and that is what my quest is all about!
Just as I had hoped, my interview with Mrs. Wigant gave me a different perspective as to how to overcome my confidence troubles. She challenged me to think past high school and realize just how much I can achieve with my confidence by my side!