The books lining the walls of Jennifer Heiter’s classroom at Bremen High School speak to her desire to peel back the layers of “reading scar tissue” her students have developed over many years. As an English teacher with 23 years of teaching experience, Jennifer focuses her work on taking her high school students back to the time in their lives when reading was “cool.” Jennifer’s students engage in “bibliotherapy” as they use their reading and writing to heal their mental health, which Jennifer models through her own written poetry and an anthology she compiled titled Despite: Reading Your Way Out of the Wound and Into the Light. Seen as a mentor and a leader in her school, Jennifer welcomes all students and teachers into her classroom—or “nest,” as she calls it—and puts others’ needs before her own.
