W.F. West High School Vision Teacher Jill Peterson laughs while senior Tristian Gallegos tells a story about when they first started working together 13 years ago when he was in kindergarten.
After making a phone call to Tristian Gallegos’ mother to inquire about the color of a cat he is working to recreate in the form of a ceramic statue in pottery class, W.F. West High School Vision Teacher Jill Peterson shows a photo to Ty Davis, who helps Tristian. Peterson has worked with Gallegos since he was in kindergarten.
W.F. West High School Vision Teacher Jill Peterson visits senior Tristian Gallegos in his pottery class on Tuesday, Feb. 17 in Chehalis. The pair first started working together 13 years ago when he was in kindergarten.
Tristian Gallegos shows Jill Peterson the hat one of his teachers gave him during their twice weekly work session on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at the high school in Chehalis.
When Tristian Gallegos walks across the stage to receive his high school diploma this spring, it will signal the end of his high school career.
It will also end his work with teacher Jill Peterson, who has been with him through all 13 years of public school.
“I’ve had so many people say to me, ‘You’re going to college with him, right?’” Peterson said with a laugh during one of her twice-weekly work sessions with Gallegos at W.F. West High School in Chehalis.
When you ask them about how they began working together, it’s hard to say who found who. Peterson held a bachelor’s degree but stayed home from the workforce when her children were young. Her youngest child started kindergarten in 2003, the same year as Gallegos, and Peterson accepted a substitute position with the Chehalis School District. Within a month, the opportunity came up to work as a braillist with Gallegos, who has been blind since birth, and Peterson accepted it.
“I’d never really even been around visually impaired people,” she admitted.
A braillist’s main job is to teach braille and create braille for students, re-creating all school work, text books and other reading materials using the configurations of six raised dots. Braillists also teach independence skills and sometimes support the student in the classroom.
“We have a lot of incidental learning that happens visually and Tristian doesn’t have that because he’s blind,” Peterson explained. “So we have to teach things like social skills and body language.”
Gallegos recalled one funny incident where Peterson and his vision teacher at the time explained to him how people with vision use air quotes and why. Eventually after some practice, Gallegos could also use air quotes in the correct context.
“You can probably imagine how surprised people were to see me using air quotes,” he said with a smirk.
As Peterson and Gallegos continued to work together, Peterson said she really felt a strong calling to the profession of working with students with visual impairments. She said she also realized if she wanted to continue to work with Gallegos, she would need to receive more education in order to help him keep growing in his knowledge. In about 2012 she earned her master’s degree and became a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI).
Today, Gallegos is the oldest of the 12 students Peterson works with between the Centralia and Chehalis school districts. Her students can range from ages birth to 21, and all live with visual impairments of varying degrees. Peterson’s job is to travel from school to school ,providing special materials and consulting with school personnel. She also provides individualized instruction in disability specific skills including special assistive technology, independent living skills, communication modes, career education, visual efficiency skills, orientation and mobility.
Gallegos was born with congenital glaucoma, a trait that runs on the male side of his family and affected his father and grandfather. He is not only blind but has no light perception at all, meaning he can’t even sense darkness.
“When I tell people I see literally nothing it is literally nothing and that’s hard for a sighted person to fathom,” Gallegos said.
His first educational experience was at Anchor Center, a preschool for blind students in Denver, Colo. He started learning braille at the age of about 3 and started learning to use a cane to get around independently at about 4. Most of his memories from Anchor Center are the tactile work students did there, including cooking nearly every day.
“I’ll never forget the smell of homemade bread, the smell of brown sugar,” he said.
Gallegos’ love of smells that began at Anchor Center continues to this day. He uses some of the scents he loves most, including peppermint and lavender, in essential oil form, to help him cope with stress or tiredness.
Music is another major love for Gallegos. He began playing the piano as a toddler and today is an acclaimed musician who performs on weekends at Boccata Restaurant in Centralia. In April he is slated to appear in a concert for the Lewis County Music Teachers Association and has also been booked as the musician at local weddings. He loves jazz and has a passion for Cuban music. He can also play the conga drums and is learning to play the pan flute.
“I’ve always wanted to be a performing musician and play on the streets,” Gallegos said.
Gallegos’ mother and stepfather are also both blind. They have instilled values in Gallegos to not ask for or expect special treatment and to live his life without boundaries. Peterson said she, too, pushes her students to resist a “poor me” attitude in regard to their visual impairments. She re-called once in fifth grade a substitute teacher assumed Gallegos would not be able to complete an assigned task and told him not to do the worksheet. Gallegos was happy enough to oblige until his regular teacher returned and asked where his homework was.
“Guess who had homework that weekend,” Peterson recounted. “I do spend a lot of my time educating the public and the staff not to have the bleeding heart for Tristian but to have expectations for him the same as they have for all of their students.”
After high school Gallegos will attend courses through Living Independently For Today and Tomorrow (LIFTT) in Vancouver, Washington, a center for independent living. He also hopes to study music and holistic medicine at Clark College. A program called Bridge through the Department of Services for the Blind that will allow him to experience college classes for a few weeks to determine if it the right fit for him. One way or another, he said he wants to study holistic medicine and find a way to help others through that field.
“I really want to find education in natural medicine because of experiences I’ve had in my lifetime,” Gallegos said. “I want to help others with natural health.”
But before that happens, there will be graduation. Gallegos has many hopes for the future, though he admitted the next stage of life will involve some major changes. As to no longer working with the teacher he’s been with since kindergarten, he said he will be sad.
“I think we’re all going to cry,” Gallegos said. “It’s hard to imagine.”
As for Peterson, saying goodbye to her long-time student is just a bittersweet reward for a job well done.
“While it’s difficult to see him go, there’s a lot of pride in it,” Peterson said.
Carrina Stanton is a local freelance writer specializing in pieces for the Life section of The Chronicle.
