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SALT LAKE CITY — It’s been two years since Laramie Riggs was involved in a tragic bus accident in Ecuador, and the University of Utah alumni student is thriving.
Riggs was one of 35 people who were injured in the bus accident on July 6, 2013, that killed seven when it lost traction and rolled while she was on an internship.
Graduating with a double major in communication and international studies with an emphasis in global health, Riggs now teaches at a junior high school in Greenwood, Mississippi, through Teach for America.
Riggs said although it has been a challenge moving across the country to teach pre-algebra and algebra to eighth graders, it has been rewarding.
Because the school is low-resource, Riggs teaches without textbooks and proper desks. Although her students are smart, she said, some struggle to read and do math due to the lack of resources.
Riggs created a curriculum she uses in place of a textbook, but many of her students were sitting on chairs with clipboards because so many desks were broken.
In an effort to allow the students to collaborate in groups, Riggs was able to quickly raise nearly $1,500 for 22 desks on Donors Choose, a website that helps fund classroom projects.
“This year, I’m really excited because it’s not going to seem like there’s any favoritism or anything like that,” Riggs said. “They’ll all have matching desks that are easy to move together when we do group collaboration.”
Riggs said it is hard for her to ask people for help because she doesn’t want them to feel obligated to pay for resources in her classroom. Nonetheless, she has received help from many people. One Utah woman anonymously donated $50 and another donated $100 after hearing Riggs’ story.
...I really think that God has a plan for everything, and that accident, while it was miserable breaking my back and having to wait for the healing to happen, it really shaped who I am and opened up so many possibilities for me.
–Laramie Riggs
A local farmers market even donated about $1,000 worth of shrubs, flowers and other plants so Riggs’ students could beautify the outside of the school for their end-of-the-year project.
Riggs credits her accident for many of the opportunities she’s had in the last two years, including Teach for America, returning to Ecuador with medicinal and Bible donations and hiking and living in the Amazon with some of its indigenous people.
“...I really think that God has a plan for everything, and that accident, while it was miserable breaking my back and having to wait for the healing to happen, it really shaped who I am and opened up so many possibilities for me.”
Although doctors said Riggs would not be able to be as physically active as she was before the accident, she has completed a half marathon and a Ragnar and continues to wakeboard, among other things.
She still feels pain in her back and neck from time to time and has lost feeling in parts of her body, but Riggs said she feels 100 percent fine.
“I think the accident has taught me what I’m capable of and also made me realize that through such a challenging experience, really that anything is possible,” Riggs said.
Riggs does not plan to teach permanently, but said she will possibly apply for law school or graduate school and maybe find a career in education policy.
