Former Tampa Bay student and teacher share bond that lasts 16 years
By: Wendy Ryan Posted 1:07 PM, May 30, 2024 and last updated 8:24 PM, May 31, 2024
TAMPA, Fla. — We often hear about how teachers can impact a group of students lives, but rarely do they keep in touch in the years following graduation. Back in 2008, then 15-year-old Zhalarina Sanders met her JROTC instructor Eric Hess at Chamberlain High School. Hess is a retired Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant, who goes by the nickname “Gunny”. “I always say I was like, kind of a chaotic kid. I wasn't bad. But someone, who like had difficulty focusing and like, following through and like having confidence in myself to do hard things. And Gunny, through what he was teaching in the program, changed all of that for me,” said Zhalarina. “I found myself early on in my career, being very impressed at a young 15-year-old student who was very charismatic and very energetic and really eager to learn,” explained Gunny. For the next two years, this teacher/student bond began to grow, especially after Zhalarina joined the drill team. “I was then spending a lot of time with Gunny, as he was teaching me as a student. But then, I was also with him after school, learning from him. Me and maybe about 20 other cadets. And in that time, it was incredibly transformative for me, mostly personally transformative,” said Zhalarina. She realized Gunny was a mentor to her. “A bond started to form where it was like, I kind of wanted to talk to him all the time. And like, learn from him all the time. And you could just tell that he not only cared about what he was saying, but he cared about who he was saying it to,” Zhalarina They stayed in touch through college and beyond. Zhalarina even invited Gunny to her performances. “Look at this young lady who I knew is incredible. And here I am watching her now a few years later, do what she's passionate about. And she wrote this, and she's performing it. And it just continued to blossom from there,” said Gunny Over the last year, Zhalarina’s mental well-being and musical career began to struggle. So, she leaned on her mentor once again. “I went from being a full-time artist since I left college to now working somewhere, and it was like an identity thing. And so, it was a lot going on. And it led to high amounts of stress, which produced tension in my neck. And now I have bulging discs in my neck and I might have to have spinal surgery,” explained Zhalarina. During that challenging time, Gunny knew how to help, leaning on his own role models as a young Marine. “Just to be able to sit down with her and actually, you know, go through that, and for her to trust me and share those things with me. It was a very eye-opening experience. An incredible opportunity to spend time with her,” said Gunny cont...
