The Wonder Woman campaign is a campaign started by Reebok, a sneaker company, to honor the women in our lives who are working harder than ever during this pandemic. This campaign was also a part of the Boks Initiative. The Boks Initiative helps to provide free online resources to keep all family members active and engaged while at home.
For their second collaboration with Wonder Woman, Reebok decided to honor the real life superheroes living among us, “because real-life superheroes make a difference.” Among those real life super heroes, local K-4 art teacher at the Ferryway School in Malden, Courtney Gould, was recognized as a wonder woman.
This was Gould’s first time being honored nationally for something meaningful and she said that it is “still pretty surreal.” When she found out she was going to be recognized as a ‘Wonder Woman’, Gould was “a little bit nervous” and was “hoping [she] would do a good job representing all the teachers and all the working moms.”
Teaching in a pandemic is not easy while also being a mother. On top of that, working and being on the front lines is even harder which was one of the reasons Reebok decided it was time to recognize these women. To Gould, “teachers have always been Wonder Women and superheroes,” but it was “nice that teachers are now being held in that light and that teachers are being recognized nationally.”
Gould has two sons, both of schooling age, and she said that it has “been tricky being a mom and a teacher working remotely.” As an art teacher, Gould has said that the hardest thing about teaching in a pandemic has been the lack of supplies that the students can choose from, and “not being able to see [her] students, not knowing if [the students] are understanding or not.” Although it has been tricky, she mentioned that there are also things she has been able to use to improve her teaching.
These things have included getting to see her students in their home environments which has “allowed a deeper understanding of [her] students.” She also mentioned that her students “have been a great support system” through all of the learning it has taken to adjust to remote teaching.
When Gould took a moment in her Reebok interview to “sit down and have a moment to reflect,” she talked about her children which had made her emotional. Reebok had not given warning as to what questions were going to be asked and so Gould was put on the spot during the interview. Gould had known she was going to be part of a campaign about teachers, but mentioned that it was “all a real surprise.” It had been a top secret campaign and Reebok did not want the public involved. Gould concluded that she is “so proud of all [her] amazing students and [her students] parents and everyone is at superhero status right now.”
For more information, click here to watch a video on the campaign.
