Addilyn Austin Memorial Education Fund

Addilyn was a healthy seven-year-old with a promising future.  Unfortunately, she contracted a virulent strain of bacteria known as E. coli 0157.  While the exact source of the infection is unknown, it's thought that she came into contact with the bacteria from playing in a contaminated creek or from consuming a meal from a fast-food restaurant.  This will remain a mystery; however, what's not a mystery is the agony of her death.    

A few weeks prior to her illness, Addi started second grade at River Mill Academy in Graham, NC. Due to Covid restrictions, Addi was attending class online. The morning before she was taken to the hospital, she had a math test. She wasn’t feeling well. In fact, she was experiencing abdominal pain, cramping, and other symptoms that worsened as the day progressed.  

Her parents explained to her that she didn’t have to attend school or take the math test that morning. They offered to talk to her teacher and have the test rescheduled. Addi, however, was determined to manage her discomfort.  She sat through an hour-long lesson from her teacher and then took the test.  The abdominal pain was such that she had to curl up in a ball while laying on her bed as she worked math problems.  And on what would be Addi’s last day of school, her last test, and her final grade—she made a perfect score: 100.  

When Addi first began attending Kindergarten, though, she was a different kid.  Her school seemed so big and intimidating. She felt scared, nervous, overwhelmed, and lost among so many other kids. One day, she was scared to the point that her father had to carry her to the front door of the school building. There, Addi and her dad were met by the Assistant Principal. She tried to calmly talk Addi into the building, but Addi wasn't interested. The Assistant Principal finally had to pry a sobbing little girl from her father's arms. 

Her parents were heart-broken and questing their decision to send Addi to this school.  After all homeschooling was and still is a growing trend.  Why put Addi and everyone else involved through such emotional difficulty?  Learning, though, isn’t always as pretty and clean cut as we may hope it to be.  One might even argue that to be properly educated, there should be an element of discomfort that takes effort to overcome.  In fact, this is what it takes to grow a relationship with Jesus. 

It turns out that as soon as Addi walked into her classroom, her fear began to subside. According to the Assistant Principal, she almost instantly switched from crying uncontrollably to looking attentive and following the rules of the classroom.  How was this possible? 

The answer, as we discovered, was simple: her teacher! Addi trusted her teacher. When she looked at her teacher, she found someone with a caring, compassionate heart, but also someone that simultaneously established expectations for the classroom.  Her teacher set rules and established order.  Addi knew what to expect when she entered the classroom, and she trusted her teacher.  From this trust grew respect, and from respect grew a stronger mind and courage. 

Addi’s teacher was a leader that taught not only academic material, but also taught life skills and demonstrated how to think; how to overcome. She had the highly desirable, but uncommon ability to balance genuine love and strict rules. This balance is the bedrock to establishing a student-teacher bond that can guide students of all ages in becoming well-rounded, free-thinking people. 

Over time, Addi transformed from someone that dreaded going to school and detested homework to a young lady that awoke with ease early in the mornings and willingly contemplated math problems. Addi excelled academically, but one of the greatest lessons she was learning, was how to overcome—to overcome fear, doubt, anxiety, sadness—emotional conflict.  She was learning to focus her mind, to turn on the light of intrigue and press forward while in the presence of difficulty. Her teacher helped set the example for Addi to follow. 

None of us knew how prominent this lesson would be during Addi's final days.  She had to overcome a level of fear and pain that doesn't seem fair for anyone especially a child.  Regardless, she continued to fight.  Despite her struggles—her effort to endure the numerous medical procedures, the discomfort of an uncontrollable body—despite the fight, she lost the battle. 

To overcome in life is to continually live immersed among mental and physical unpleasantries resolute that regardless of what struggles come you are going to press forward until your last breath. And then, if you’ve reached for truth, you'll find the hand that gives you eternal victory.  In other words, you can lose battles everyday of your life, but if you're willing to press forward, to seek truth while enduring the hardships, then your failures are presented as victories.

Addi's story isn't unique.  We believe there are teachers and students locally and across this nation working hard to build relationships, learn, and overcome the burdens of life.  The members of St. John's Church, being no strangers to overcoming difficulty, seek to identify and recognize teachers and students that demonstrate an overcoming perseverance.  To accomplish this goal, we hereby establish the Addilyn Austin Memorial Education Fund Presented by St. John's Church.