A Dash of Courage

An Aspiring Chef Uncovers Her ‘Soup-er’ Powers

 

You’re too late! Too far behind. Give up!

These messages swirled around Madigan Egizio-Hughes’ mind. They moaned like graveless ghouls. They haunted her days with their shadows. They poked holes in the wooly blankets of her sweetest dreams. As a deadly pandemic raged around the world, the isolated 16-year-old burrowed deeper into despair.

 

Cold Shoulders

The travelers arrived to the village on a frosty day. The air smelled as sweet and clean as a first kiss.

The travelers’ breath puffed like thin feathers. Their arms crossed their chests as they stuffed their fists under their arms. They smiled at the locals. They remarked on the weather. They were met with indifference or silence.

They asked a few passersby for food. They had trekked a long way through difficult terrain. They were very hungry. People apologized, saying they had nothing to share.

The travelers thought for a moment. Then, they extracted from their gear a cookpot. They filled it with water from a nearby stream. They hung the pot over a fire. From among the river rocks, they selected a black, smooth stone. They made a spectacle of this task, attracting the attention of the locals.

Carefully, as if performing a delicate ritual, they placed the stone in the pot. They sat and waited.

 

Live and Learn

Maddy’s outlets for pandemic lockdown misery were few to none. Her high school had shifted to online learning. All that screen time added to Maddy’s sense of isolation. Friendships are paramount for her. She’d suffered a bit of culture shock moving from Silverton Schools to Miller Middle School around 8^th grade. Transitioning from one small school building to Miller’s sprawling campus was daunting. Whereas she could have counted all her teachers and classmates on her fingers (and toes), now Maddy was awash in a rowdy sea of middle-schoolers.

She was overwhelmed until she acquired a small, dedicated circle of friends.

Separated from those friends, Maddy’s motivation sagged in online learning. Even her parents could see the digital platform draining all the zeal from their usually upbeat daughter.

They all agreed: Maddy would withdraw from high school.

Although the decision felt right, it was by no means easy. In dropping out, Maddy severed yet another tether to her social support networks. Now she could derive no pleasure in hopping on social media to check up on her friends because she would see them gradually completing classes and trudging ever closer to graduation.

Too late—the ghosts droned; their voices a chorus of cold winds.

 

A Soup-er Idea

“What’s in the pot?” a local asked, bashfully approaching the travelers.

“We’re making a special soup,” one traveler reported. “All you need is a stone in hot water and time. Soon we’ll have the brothiest, tastiest soup.”

Intrigue and skepticism caught the local in a tug-of-war. “Seems impossible to make a soup from water and a rock.”

“Just you wait and see!” one traveler insisted.

“To be fair,” another traveler remarked, “the soup would be so much better with some rosemary.”

“I have some rosemary,” the local replied.

“Well,” chuffed a traveler, “if you’d share some of your herbs to improve our soup, we’d gladly share a bowl with you.”

The local hurried to retrieve the rosemary, stopping along the way to share with neighbors the news of the remarkable soup.

 

Making the Grade

In 2023, Maddy enrolled in the High School Equivalency (HSE) program at the Adult Education Center in Durango. She encountered a very different learning environment.

“There aren’t like any cliques that you find at a normal high school,” she explains. Her classmates ranged in age from teens to middle-aged adults. Everyone was a little nervous. And everyone was really nice. Maddy discovered she could learn well and focus in this kind of environment.

The classes were small, targeted, and intensive. Students buckled down for 8 weeks, attending 3-hour sessions four days per week. The teachers at the AEC were unlike any educators Maddy had ever encountered.

“They were super supportive,” Maddy notes. “It wasn’t hard going to school there.” Maddy discovered a confidant in her RLA and Social Studies teacher, Mckenzie Marciante. She recalls, “Mckenzie was a huge help to me. She was always checking up on me when I needed it. Like checking if I was coming to class or not. Like sending me work that I needed to do. I feel like in a big high school you don’t always get that one-on-one.”

This kind of attention was novel to Maddy. For the first time in her life, teachers were not just people who added homework to her to-do list. They contributed care to her as a human. They contributed motivation and reminded her she was capable of reaching her goal.

As 2023 drew to a close, Maddy faced two last GED subject tests—the final hurdles mounted between her and graduation.

 

Soup’s On!

A dense crowd surrounded the cookpot. The travelers took turns stirring the golden soup bubbling within. Potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, grains, dark greens, fresh herbs and spices had all been added to the pot. As word of the magical soup had spread, more and more people had arrived with something to contribute in exchange for a taste.

Finally, the soup was declared ready to serve. The travelers ladled out servings until everyone, including themselves, had a steaming bowl in hand. As a whole, the community and its visitors, slurped away the brothy bounty.

 

A Recipe for Success

A week or so after graduating with her GED, Maddy is beaming. “It feels surreal!” she says. “There were definitely times when I regretted not getting my high school diploma, like not completing it, but at the same time, getting my GED was the best option.”

No longer dwelling on the past, Maddy has her eyes set on the future. “I’m looking at the culinary school in Colorado Springs. That’s a long-term goal. My goal for later on in life is opening up my own restaurant.”

Maddy developed a passion for cooking as a youngster helping her father cook for his bed and breakfast guests in Costa Rica. She is already working with the Amy Benson, AEC Career Advisor, to find scholarships for the steep tuition. “It’s $30,000 for one year! It’s a one-year program, thankfully,” she says.

Maddy and her peers at the AEC are the embodiment of the magical stone soup. They arrive with the wherewithal needed persevere and survive, but with a few generous contributions from strangers, they suddenly have the nourishment they need to thrive.

“If anyone is thinking of going to the Adult Education Center,” Maddy attests, “I would tell them that no matter what, they’re going to be supported. Even if takes you a couple years, every time you come back, you’re gonna be welcomed with open arms. It does take a lot of courage to build up to get back into it, but once you get that courage, it feels really good.”