My name is Destiny Chantel Woodbury.
I'm from Rhode Island– Go Rhody!
I'm from Providence, Rhode Island, and I moved to Houston in 2007.
First one is Teach for America, which is an amazing program.
You know, they to colleges and recruit college graduates.
You don't have to major in Education–I majored in Education, but you don't have to.
And they place you in schools where there's a need, like there's kids who are grade levels
behind, kids in low-income areas.
They place you there for you to make a difference in those kid's lives.
Our homeroom is an all-girls class–so, like, we're sisters.
We have each other's back.
Like, when she asks something–when she asks to get something done, we get it done right
away.
She's just a great teacher, and I really honor her, and I'm really gonna miss her next year.
I've know Destiny for about two years now.
We're both from the east coast.
She's from Rhode Island.
I'm from Delaware.
And so, when I first came down to start Teach for America, we were placed randomly as roommates
for the first KIPP weekend.
And so, ever since then, she's been one of my closet friends down here and made my transition
really easy.
I originally met Destiny–I was on a 7th grade team last year, and she was on the 5th
grade team.
And then I found out she was training for the Olympics, and I was in the process of
working on my own weight loss efforts.
And so, you know, I just kinda talked to her, because she had a fitness business that she
was doing, and I just kinda talked to her to see if that was something that we could
do–if there was something that she could do to help me.
And so, she actually worked with me for about a year.
I've been working with Destiny, of course, this year, and though she teaches Science,
we've really, really grown to be close friends thus far, so.
Destiny is someone I met my first year working here, which was last year.
We met on the training that we go to before we start here at school.
And she's an amazing person.
Ever since I've know her, I've just known her to be a fighter.
The special traits about Destiny is definitely that she's a hard worker.
I, in my opinion, view her as one of the hardest working teachers here on the campus.
She's not only dedicated to, of course, her students, but she's a master of her content,
as well as Track and Field.
She always goes above and beyond for the students, even as far as today, in regards to the field
trips we have planned–Destiny planned all the field trips, so we have about another
five coming up for the rest of this semester.
And she's always innovative and thinking of ways of really rewarding the students and
just ways of making sure that they're successful.
So, she's definitely, without a doubt, a hard worker and one of the hardest working teachers
here at KIPP.
For some of us, Destiny is a word that means a plan for the future.
For the kids of KIPP Charter Elementary, Destiny is a hero.
What I think Ms. Woodbury teaches us is you gotta be unique in your own way.
And she's very kind, and she wants us to do good on the Star Science.
She prepares us for everything we need to know.
She's just a loving, warm woman.
And we've also noticed that you have– the hamstring is weak on the left side.
So, obviously, the nerve irritation is causing that hamstring to be weak.
So as we work through you over a series of adjustments that hamstring should get stronger.
And I'm gonna monitor it, okay?
Okay.
Each day that you come in, we're gonna check and see how you're doing, how you're feeling,
and I'll give you feedback.
If there's certain stretches or exercises that I want you to do or not to do, we'll
talk about that each day that you come in.
Okay.
Does that make sense?
Yeah.
Okay, let's look at another…here.
Now, remember, we looked at the big picture of the overall health.
One of the most important things is we see that there's a nice, good, strong curve in
your neck.
We talked about the injuries, the stress that happens on a daily basis as being a teacher
and also traumas that you've had over your life can lead to a very straight neck.
So, obviously, we're gonna adjust your whole spine, because we want you to get healthier,
not just in your low back, but your whole body.
That make sense?
I think, yes.
Let's go ahead and get started.
So, I came from getting some treatment and some adjustments for my back, and my sciatic
nerve.
And I feel much better, much relaxed, to go practice.
So, I'm about to go to the track and do it up.
What I usually do when I come to practice, I just get my mind set right, because I'm
just coming from school, dealing with a kids all day, yelling at kids all day, and teaching.
So, track is like the place where I can just let everything go and relax and just focus
on me for two hours, three hours a day.
When I get at the track, I do my two-lap warmup.
Just getting my body warmed up and just getting my mind right.
That's my time to say: Okay, Destiny, you're here.
You have a goal.
Get to it.
And after I do my warmup, I do my drills–I mean, my stretching.
I take my time, because, you know, I have my pinched nerve.
So, it's really important that I stretch it and take my time stretching it and do all
my stretching.
So, that's like the most crucial part of my whole routine– is that stretching part and
really taking my time.
After that, I do my drills.
I do a couple run throughs.
And once my body is nice and warm, then I start my workout.
That's typically my routine everyday–I have not changed that.
When I tried to change that when I first moved here that's when I got injured.
Because in college, my coach really preached to us about really stretching–and we'll
take forty-five minutes stretching.
That's how crucial it was.
And then coming here–training with different coaches–they had, like, different philosophies.
And my body, from 9-years-old until I was 21, I was just used to this same routine.
And coming to Texas and changing that messed my body up.
So, I'm trying to get back to things that I have done and that work for me.
And I feel much better when I do things that I'm used to.
So, that's just part of my routine that I do every single day.
Usually, as a professional athlete, you just run and that's it.
You don't do other things.
But, like, my passion is also teaching kids.
And so, in my mind I feel like I can do both and still be successful.
And so, with that said, it's like–I'm sacrificing a lot to train for the Olympics, but I'm not
gonna give up everything to do that.
And just–in my heart I just know I can't, because I have 75 kids who are believing in
me and want me to reach this goal.
And so, I wanna continue teaching, because I love it.
And I like inspiring my students, because I want our world to be full of kids who are
just as inspired to go after their dreams.
Like, that's just my goal.
Like, if I can reach 75 kids a year, like, that's 5 times 5, like, that's a lot of kids
that I'm inspiring.
And so, I just–my goal is just to inspire my students.
For me to shock myself, because sometimes I don't believe in myself– I'm just like:
You can't do this.
You're teaching, you're doing this, like, you're doing too much.
And yes, I think sometimes I am doing too much, but it's like, I start something, so
I have to finish it.
And I'm just happy to have this opportunity to even move to Houston to train in good weather.
Have the opportunity to go to practice.
To be healthy.
So, I just–I think my goals are just stay healthy, train hard and just understand that
there are people who are rooting for me and who are supporting me.
And I have to reach my goal.