Every day, hundreds of students walk the halls at LHS and say hi to the same people — a best friend, that kid from third hour or that girl who plays volleyball.

But what about the students who walk the hallways without a single hello? To special education teacher Jake Thibodeau, these students mean the world. These are the students he helps through every day, goes to movies with on the weekends and loves with all his heart.

“I always say I can’t believe I get paid to do what I do because I get to hang out and have fun with some of the most extraordinary kids in the world,” Thibodeau said.

Thibodeau teaches in the autism program at Lawrence High. Students enter the program when they first start school and stay with it throughout their education.

Thibodeau’s job helps students get through obstacles in life. As a great metaphor for his job, Thibodeau breaks barriers every day – but not in a common form.

When Thibodeau was 11, he started taking Tae Kwon Do lessons to release anxiety he had as a young child. He now teaches martial arts students how to overcome challenges, such as breaking boards or cement blocks.

At school, he teaches students to take down their challenges, whether they are academic, vocational, social or emotional.

“I’m working with them to help them be successful in all areas of life, and I’m trying to get them to be as independent as possible,” Thibodeau said.

Every student is different, so Thibodeau works to make a program that is perfect for each one. His goal everyday is to help students be successful. When he sees his students in five years – out of high school and experiencing life in the real world — he hopes they will be fulfilling their potential.

“Sometimes it’s so overwhelming because I would be devastated if I see them in a few years and they’ve regressed a lot or they’re not in a job that stimulates them and they’re not in an environment that pushes them mentally and physically,” Thibodeau said.

Part of Thibodeau’s desire for success comes from his past. He wishes he’d embraced a different outlook as an LHS student. For Thibodeau, school wasn’t a big deal. Without the expectation of college laid out for him, he didn’t see the need to go.

After high school, he took after his father and earned certificates for firefighting.

But Thibodeau was never certain that was the right path for him. If it weren’t for a special student, Thibodeau might have stayed where he was. While working toward his firefighting certificates, Thibodeau was a personal paraprofessional for a student at Free State High School. During their years together, Thibodeau and this student became close friends and would talk about life. One of those talks happened to be about Thibodeau’s future.

“I was thinking about fire fighting, and he just told me flat out, ‘Jake, you need to be a teacher,’ and when he told me that, it just really changed my perspective,” Thibodeau said. “It was his upbeat attitude and the way he tackled life [that made me believe I could do it].”

Today, this experience is still the core of what keeps Thibodeau strong.

“He’s always going to motivate me when times are tough,” Thibodeau said.

For his students to thrive, Thibodeau knows it will take more than the small team in the Autism Program. It will take

everyone at LHS.

That is one of the reasons Thibodeau became a Link Coordinator, in addition to wanting to do something positive for the school that he didn’t do when he was a student. While making connections with Link leaders, Thibodeau hoped to create opportunities for students with autism and expose the Autism Program.

“If I’ve made a connection with some of the Link leaders, when they see me in the hallways, when they see me with my kids, they’ll say hi to me, they’ll say hi to my kids,” Thibodeau said.

And really, he said, that’s what his students want — a simple “Hey” or “How was your weekend.” For Thibodeau, it’s all about compassion.

“I know they have busy days but maybe think outside of themselves a little, say hi to kids with special needs and really appreciate what they have been given in life,” he said. “Know that other people are less fortunate and then make a concerted effort to really give back and help people that are less fortunate.”

Thibodeau also hopes this will carry through to the future.

“Maybe they’ll think back to this high school experience and [think] ‘you know there’s these kids that I saw, and I would really like them to have a good future so I’m gonna vote or I’m gonna put my money toward some of these programs,’” Thibodeau said.

All it takes, he said, is just one tiny gesture.