Baylor alum uses class photo day to teach her pre-K students a powerful lesson on caring

Without any context, Corinne Stephenson’s pre-K class photo looks pretty normal — three rows of smiling, bright-eyed children lined up alongside their teacher. But the lesson Stephenson, a 2012 Baylor grad, taught her class on photo day is anything but normal.

Look at the photo a little closer, and you’ll notice that one smile is bigger than the rest. It belongs to 4-year-old Faith Fortenberry, surrounded by classmates as she sits in the middle of the front row. Shortly after birth, Faith was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, a rare nerve disease that means she likely will never be able to walk. Though confined to a wheelchair, Faith is an otherwise energetic, curious pre-K student who enjoys being with her fellow students.

When it came time last month for class picture day, Stephenson, BSED ’12, saw an opportunity to help her students understand what it means to show care for one another. Classes at Woodway Elementary School (just outside Waco) normally stand on bleachers for their group pictures, but that approach would have left Faith isolated due to her condition. Instead, Stephenson encouraged her class to break the mold so Faith wouldn’t be left out. She helped Faith out of her wheelchair and had the entire class sit beside her, a move that put Faith on equal footing with her friends.

“Faith and all kids deserve to fit in and do everything like the rest of the kids,” Stephenson told Waco’s KWTX. “Maybe our picture looked a little different than the others, but it was just beautiful.”

Sic ’em, Faith and Corinne!