She was just a teen when she lost an eye to a rare form of cancer, had to wear an eye patch, and suddenly became a target for hurtful teasing.
On this episode of the Supercast, hear the incredible story of Columbia Elementary School kindergarten teacher Alexa Byrd. Find out how one middle school teacher taught Alexa to be proud of her eye patch as something that sets her apart. Hear how Alexa now tells her own students to take pride in their individual differences and how that message is making a difference in their young lives.


Audio Transcription
Alexa Bird:
It's just kind of been my motto now. It's like, "Why blend in when you're born to stand out?" And so I made the decision to get my eye removed. Now I have these fun prosthetics. This year I had a student, she in the middle of the year, found out that she actually had to get hearing aids. She looked at the doctor and said, "I'm going to have special ears like Miss Bird has special eyes." I just went home and cried.
[Music]
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. She was just a teen when she lost an eye to a rare form of cancer, had to wear an eye patch, and suddenly became a target for hurtful teasing. On this episode of the Supercast, hear the incredible story of Columbia Elementary School kindergarten teacher Alexa Bird. Find out how one middle school teacher taught Alexa to be proud of her eye patch as something that sets her apart. Hear how Alexa now tells her own students to take pride in their individual differences and how that message is making a difference in their young lives.
[Music]
Anthony Godfrey:
We're at Columbia Elementary today talking with Alexa Bird about her teaching and her pathway to becoming a teacher. Alexa, thanks for talking with me.
Alexa Bird:
Thanks for having me.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me first of all just about your teaching career. You're here at Columbia for your second year. Talk to me about how all that came to be.
Alexa Bird:
I went to school at Utah Tech University and I've always just wanted to be a teacher. Since the time I was little, people would be like, "What do you want to be?" And I was never like the princess or an astronaut or a pilot. It was always, "I want to be a teacher." So, I went to Utah Tech and I went through their program and then I went to the job fair. I talked to Jane Olsen there and the rest was just history. She told me, "Come to Jordan." And then I got a job interview and I interviewed here and it just felt right. And I loved the energy and the community and all the questions and just felt right. And so I said, "Yes."
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, good job, Jane, for finding Alexa. Tell me, why did you want to be a teacher when you started out at a young age? Why has this always been of interest to you?
Alexa Bird:
Well, my dad is a teacher and my grandma's a teacher. So I come from a really long line of teachers and I would go to his classroom. He actually worked at West Jordan High School.
Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, wow.
Alexa Bird:
And I would be like, "I'm going to be a teacher one day," and pretending like I was him writing on the whiteboards and things. And then when I was going on with my education career in high school, I was diagnosed with medulloepithelioma, which is a cancerous brain tumor in my eye. I started finding that and I had to go to California every 12 weeks because there was no pediatric ocular oncologist in Utah. And so every 12 weeks I was going to California and I just... School was my favorite place and then it became my least favorite place really quick because not for anything except kids were really mean. They would make comments like, "Jeez, Alexa, don't stand so close. I don't want to catch cancer," or, “pretending like you have cancer, that's really rude.