May 9, 2024 – Parkland High School students in Tia Buster’s Senior IB Literature and English IV Honors classes recently connected with their curriculum on a whole new level when they attended Wake Forest University's Face to Face Speaker Event featuring Trevor Noah.
Noah is one of the most celebrated media personalities of the past decade, filling roles as a comedian, actor, political commentator, and perhaps most notably, the host of The Daily Show from 2015-2022. However, Buster’s students know him best for his autobiography Born a Crime, which details his childhood in South Africa and the impacts poverty, religion, the courage of his mother, and his highly stigmatized status as a person of mixed race had on his development. Buster’s classes studied the memoir this year, and the narrative’s depiction of a struggle for unity among diverse populations resonated with the students.
“Especially in a very diverse school like ours, sometimes it feels like we’re all one big community, and sometimes it doesn’t,” said Senior Ghufran Abd. “I think we could all see parallels in ourselves.”
When Noah came to town for his session in Face to Face, Buster saw an opportunity to capitalize on how much her students connected with the book. Several of her students wrote testimonial letters explaining how much the book meant to them, and when she submitted those letters to the event organizers, the whole class was provided with complimentary tickets for the event. It took a bit of doing, but Buster was excited to find a venue where her students could delve into their lessons further than ever before.
“My students have embraced his storytelling style, activism and humor, so much,” Buster said. “They were truly invested and fully engaged with Trevor and his book.”
The event did not disappoint. It wasn’t meant to be as funny as most of Noah’s live shows, but it did take on a warm and conversational tone while addressing matters like overcoming political divisions in the United States and how to engage in productive discourse with people from different backgrounds. The experience deepened the respect the students had for Noah and his personable approach to complex issues.
“The way he used humor to handle some pretty serious topics really resonated with me,” said Senior Tyese Acker. “I like to make people laugh, too.”
Buster thinks this was an exceptional asset to her students’ understanding of their coursework, and if she finds similar opportunities for future classes, she’ll do her best to make them a reality.
“It’s so good to see them this engaged,” Buster said. “If we have this kind of opportunity, why not?"