ANNA

History:

Curiosity? That’s a flame in the wind—and I protect it. When a student

lights up with wonder or doubt, I follow that spark. Their job is to

question. Mine is to say yes.

I’m a math teacher. I don’t just teach logic—I live it. Geometric proofs in

my classroom aren’t just about congruent triangles; they’re exercises in

clarity, in ownership, and in learning to defend or refute a claim with

evidence.

Answers matter—but reasons matter more. Logic, here, is armor. “If you

say something,” I tell my students, “I’ll challenge it. Not because it’s

wrong, but because it’s yours. Even if it’s your parents’ belief, you chose

to repeat it. So know why—and understand the consequences, intended

or not.”

But truth doesn’t start in the classroom. That’s why I joined the Spokane

Pride History and Remembrance Project. Queer youth deserve more

than hashtags and rainbow stickers. They deserve a history that wasn’t

buried in silence—a legacy of people who survived erasure and still

chose to dance, love, and fight.

Preserving queer history isn’t nostalgia. It’s resistance. It’s a bridge. My

students shouldn’t have to start over—they should start further ahead.

Our past lights the way forward. The old scripts no longer serve them.

Their future is unwritten—but it’s theirs to author.

And they’re ready to write it.