'Stephanie is Sunshine'
In middle school and high school, I was one of the first kids to get picked up by the morning bus.
I sat in the same seat, curled my legs under me and rested my head on the window as I listened to my iPod. Most kids on the bus did the same thing, headphones were in and the ride was silent.
One person broke the silence every morning and said good morning to the bus driver as she climbed the bus steps. She wore a crossbody backpack and wouldn’t just walk, but marched to the bus each morning.
This is Steph.
“I used to call her the school mascot,” Mary Ann Cavanaugh said. “Because even though she didn’t know everybody, everybody knew Stephanie.”
Stephanie Zagar graduated from Hempfield Area High School in 2012. She has Down Syndrome and when she was in sixth grade, she met Mrs. Cavanaugh.
Mrs. Cavanaugh was Steph’s personal care aid. Her job was to understand Steph’s needs in the classroom and modify the curriculum accordingly. She and Steph became “study buddies” as Steph transitioned into middle school. Mrs. Cavanaugh worked with Steph for the next 10 years.
“I would say that I needed her as much as she needed me,” Mrs. Cavanaugh said.
Steph has always been determined. She has goals, big and small, and she is a perfectionist. Steph’s perseverance in school motivated Mrs. Cavanaugh to be the best version of herself in all aspects of her life.
We all have capabilities and potential– at work, at home and in the community. But we don’t always apply ourselves to the best of our ability. Maybe we don’t feel like it or maybe we don’t think we are capable.
Steph reminded Mrs. Cavanaugh to think about her own potential every day.
“Steph would try so hard. She went over and above what most students would do because she wanted to achieve,” Mrs. Cavanaugh said. “I thought, ‘I know I could be better than what I am.’”
Even when Steph didn’t feel like doing something, she did. Her attitude inspired others to put in that extra effort.
“Stephanie is sunshine,” Mrs. Cavanaugh said.
Steph attended the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) for culinary arts and graduated in May 2015.
“I like to cook,” Steph said. “I’m definitely a foodie.”
When she goes on trips or vacations, Steph gets a cookbook that is unique to the local area that she is visiting. She collects them.
In order for Steph to graduate from CCAC, she had to pass a particular math class. Mrs. Cavanaugh explained that math is extremely difficult for people with Down Syndrome. She had taught Steph direct instructional math for nine years.
Steph blew her professors away with how well she did on the math exam. Mrs. Zagar wrote letters to Mrs. Cavanaugh and the Hempfield School District thanking them for giving her daughter the education she had always wanted her to have.
Now, Steph works at the Giant Eagle café in Monroeville. She also works a seasonal job at Jaden's Catering in the summer. Recently, she got another job– a clerical position at Achieva.
Steph told me that her dream is to be a chef.
Steph works on Thursdays and Fridays. The rest of the week she spends cooking with her mom, playing games on her iPad and making sure her house is in tip-top shape. At 7 p.m. sharp each night she plays Wii bowling with her mom.
Her favorite part of the day is her coffee, pumpkin spice coffee, to be exact.
“For you, pumpkin spice season starts in October,” Steph said. “I start early.”
Steph and Mrs. Cavanaugh keep in touch today. They send each other birthday cards, Christmas cards and meet up for coffee every once in awhile.
“She is a part of my family,” Steph said.
I talked to Steph for about an hour to catch up on all these things she’s done since we graduated from high school. It was a simple afternoon. We sat in her living room with her cat nuzzled up against me as we talked.
Steph loves her jobs; her friends at work, her coffee and her days spent cooking with her mom.
“She is just like anybody else," Mrs. Cavanaugh said. "She just tries a heck of a lot harder."