By Cadence Taylor, Class of 2028
This article is a part of a series of student stories of growth curated for the 2025 One Event. If you enjoy this story, please donate and tell us which student’s story inspired you to give.
One Stone gave me a chance to use my voice when I couldn't use it before. Before I started at One Stone I was so nervous around teachers, asking for help was my worst enemy. Sounds dramatic I know, but I was in a place where you were made fun of for putting effort into your education. Being in a community where being yourself or asking for help was put down, it made me unable to express my needs and when I was struggling. While I was figuring out what high school would look like for me, I found out about One Stone through my mom and through some friends. When I read more about it I thought there was no way it was actually a student-driven high school because no school would have that much trust in their kids. I was wrong.
My first week of One Stone, I was totally lost, it almost didn't feel real. The first real assignment that we had was reading a One Stone publication, called “Voice,” with different stories about people's leadership experiences at One Stone. Reading about these people's lives and their stories gave me a look into how my life would change. I didn't realize that for a while, but when I say “my life changed,” I mean it. It’s only been four or five months, but I truly don't think I would be who I am today without One Stone, the people I came here with, and the people I met here.
For example, I used to be convinced that I was horrible at math. It was my least favorite subject. There was a time at my old school where I got an 18/51, and I was devastated. I thought that trying wasn't worth it anymore and I was too afraid of my teachers to ask for help.
Part of One Stone I found really cool was the fact that we could choose all of our workshops and learning experiences, which are words we use instead of “classes” because learning should be engaging, hands-on, and active. Something that caught my eye specifically was in FUNdamentals of Math with Emily as the coach. This was the most basic workshop One Stone offered in the fall and it was designed for students who need to brush up on math foundations or for those of us who are interested in teaching or working with kids. I told people that I joined this particular workshop because I felt that my future vocation would be education based, which is true. I would love to do something like that. In all honesty though, I was scared that I wouldn't be able to do any of the other math workshops that One Stone offered. After only a few weeks, I found myself liking math more and more. Even if I found the math hard or it was something that I didn't know, I became more confident expressing myself and I wasn’t afraid to ask for help. Throughout the fall term, with help from my peers and Emily as my coach, I became more confident in my basic math skills. I learned how to confidently multiply and divide fractions, which is something I have always struggled with. Being able to learn things I wasn't great at before, and being supported by the people in that experience to advocate for myself, gave me a voice, and a place to use that voice.
Peeps on the Street was another amazing opportunity I got at One Stone that helped me grow as a person. For those who don’t know, Peeps on the Street is a design lab activity which is composed of XLab (foundations of design thinking), DLab (student-led collaborative design thinking teams), and YLab (autonomous and independent design think projects typically led by students in their final year). Since I'm in my first year at One Stone, I am in XLab. In XLab, we have been working with the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) and researching vehicle crash factors in Idaho. Working with actual data sets provided by ITD, we dove into statistics and personal stories of people impacted by vehicle crashes. Peeps on the Street is a One Stone event that gives students the opportunity to present what they have been doing in a semi-formal presentation. For my group's project, we shared our findings on speeding as a crash factor. We had done lots of research weeks before and we had lots of time to prepare, but I still had the thought in the back of my mind that I was missing something or made a mistake. Stepping out of my comfort zone, I asked my team, who I wasn't super close with at that time, for help. By asking if they felt something was missing too, I got more comfortable asking people for help. I continued asking for help, until I figured out what was missing. Peeps on the Street was so incredibly helpful for not only for growing my confidence in myself, but also for bonding with new people.
Because of Peeps on the Street and FUNdamentals of Math I was able to grow in ways I never thought I would. Now that I am more confident in myself and able to say when I'm uncomfortable or when I'm unsure, my life has changed for the better. I'm more confident, and I'm able to embrace my mistakes instead of being afraid of them. One Stone has given me a voice and the opportunity to use that voice.
Attending One Stone I’ve learned to embrace the unknown, to expect the unexpected, and to never have a set schedule. Things are constantly changing. At times that can just be the flow of One Stone, and other times it's incredibly stressful. But for me, Sam has been the one single constant. No matter how wild my One Stone journey gets he's there to help light the way. One mentor meeting can change my entire outlook on the day. I know I can come into school being stressed out of my mind, anxious about a Two Birds project, excited, sad, looking forward to a concert, confused, upset, and also thinking about 'what on earth am I going to write my research paper about', and simply walk into a mentor meeting holding all those feelings in a tangled ball. Then, Sam will meet me with a conversation, some awesome advice, a random side project, a silly story from when he was in high school, and plain old normality. I will walk out of my mentor meeting with the tangle of thoughts and feelings sorted out into a neat stack of priorities with a smile on my face.
Funnily enough, I haven’t always felt this way. My first year at One Stone I pushed back against having Sam as my mentor. I would actively avoid mentor meetings, try to stay out of Sam’s general path, and overall ignore his existence (sorry Sam). But my mom put me in check real quick. She told me to keep in mind that as much as I hate taking time out of my day to meet with Sam, he was also taking time out of his day to meet with me. At first I was very ignorant of that, but eventually I started putting effort into the meetings, showing up with a smile and an open mind. Thanks to my mom, I very slowly shifted my mindset. After the shift, Sam started to become a genuine mentor to me, not just a random dude I had to meet with at school. He shared stories from his high school and college experience that I found myself relating to, or at least intently listening to. He almost always got me started on some oddball foundry project that fostered my passion to make things and my desire to be a foundry lead. There was even a day when his creativity fueled my own and we created foam armor after school got out. And recently he’s been upgraded to the ultimate mentor status where he gets to hear about my personal life, whether family drama, adventures with friends, or the excitement of a new relationship.
Now I find myself seeking Sam out in the bustle of One Stone life for a mentor meeting, a quick catch up, a high five in passing, or even for a smile. Having Sam as my mentor has been a blessing. He’s my rock in the crazy river rapids that One Stone is. He is a light helping to guide me through my journey.
