By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Instead of letting the disease take over her life and bring her down, breast cancer survivor and science teacher Tamara Holland used it as a motivational tool for herself and her students at John L. Ory Magnet School in LaPlace.

“Nov. 19, 2007, right in the middle of my first year at Ory,” Holland said, referring to the day she was diagnosed. “I started chemo therapy the following December, had a mastectomy in June of 2008 and went through radiation from July to September.”

Throughout all of her treatments, Holland worked hard not to miss any days of school. She said the kids in her classes went a long way toward helping her get past the struggle.

“I certainly questioned whether I could do it at first,” Holland said. “But I talked with my kids about it, and they all sort of made fun of it. We made jokes about picking out my hairdos each week and changing wig colors (which included bright red and black with blonde tips). They kept me from getting too down about it.”

Holland said she also used her situation as a motivational tool for her students in that she didn’t accept excuses for slacking off in class.

“I told them if I can be here to do my work, then they can be here to do theirs, too,” Holland said. “They understood what I was going through, and they really worked hard to not make it more stressful than it needed to be.”

Holland said she always felt lucky to be working at Ory while going through her treatments since the staff and other faculty members constantly acted as extended family to her.

“I don’t think I could have worked through it in another environment,” Holland said. “Teachers were always quick to sub in for me when needed. Even many of the parents helped out. I think it also helped that I had the same group of students through it all. We started together in sixth grade and I followed them through seventh and eighth.”

Holland is in her seventh year as a teacher, but education was not her first career choice right out of college. Upon graduation from the University of Louisiana – Lafayette, Holland jumped into her first job as an officer at the Louisiana Corrections Institute for Women in St. Gabriel. After a six month stint at the jail, Holland realized she was in the wrong line of work.

“I came to the realization that I was at the wrong end of trying to help,” she said. “I knew I wanted to do something that could keep people from getting caught up in there. I returned to school and became certified to teach.”

In addition to her teaching duties, Holland assists with teaching Saturday Strategy classes once a month at the St. John School Board Office and also does science experiments with Ory’s eighth-graders during monthly “Amazing Race” events, which are helping to raise LEAP scores. She is also a sponsor for the school’s Beta Club, which has been volunteering at Relay for Life, another fundraiser for cancer research.