Student Profile: Emma Cocco
Pictured above is HPU sophomore Emma Cocco. Photo by: Ann Shelley
When High Point University sophomore Emma Cocco was only three years old, her mother, Beth Cocco, was told that her daughter’s mental development was abnormal. She had her tested the very next day and a learning specialist diagnosed Cocco with short-term memory loss and a processing disability.
Her mother was told that her daughter probably would not make it to high school, let alone graduate. “She just doesn’t have the cognitive abilities,” Cocco’s doctor said.
Cocco’s mother was devastated. But taking the doctor’s opinion into consideration, she decided to instead embrace a very taboo opinion that the doctor, who had 15 years of experience in child development, was wrong. She decided that her daughter’s future was not going to be determined before she had even reached an age appropriate for school.
Cocco’s abilities were not matching up with the abilities of the other kids her age. “I spent most of my childhood believing I was dumb,” Cocco said.
For years, other kids taunted Cocco for being pulled out of classes and for being behind in the curriculum.
“Teachers just kept passing me along to the next grade because they didn’t know how to actually teach me,” Cocco said. “Either that, or they just didn’t care enough to try.”
With the world working against her and the lack of encouragement from those who could actually help, her fate was clear to her.
“I couldn’t do it,” Cocco said. “I tried and I couldn’t, so I didn’t see the point.”
While the other kids were starting to read chapter books, Cocco had yet to even start.
Cocco said, “I could tell my family was at a loss. My dad, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, pretty much everyone except for my mom didn’t know what to do with me and I was starting to conform to the learning specialist’s predictions for me.”
Cocco needed more than just her mother’s faith in her if she was going to prove everyone wrong. And that’s exactly what she got. One insightful person, Cocco’s fourth grade teacher, saw the same potential in her that her mother did.
“She told me I was smart,” Cocco said. “She would try to teach me something and I wouldn’t get it, so she would teach me again in a different way and she refused to stop trying until I understood.”
The hard work was starting to make an impact on Cocco’s abilities. By sixth grade, Cocco’s reading level was up to that of her peers. By the end of eighth grade, Cocco was entering an unknown territory that she was never expected to experience – high school.
“I tried and I failed, and I tried again and I would just fail again,” Cocco said.
It wasn’t even the extensive effort she was putting in that was exhausting her; it was constantly reassuring herself that she was capable. Eventually, all that extra work to stay on an equal playing field with her peers paid off. Not only did Cocco graduate high school with a 3.5 GPA, but she was accepted into college.
“I will never forget the day I told my mom that I got accepted to High Point University,” Cocco said. “Her reaction alone made all those years of sleepless night, hours of studying, and endless stress worth it.”
Cocco had one teacher that completely impacted her future for the better. Cocco now aspires to be that teacher for other students – one who refuses to give up on any student with the reputation of being “not worth it.” She has also been contemplating becoming a special education teacher.
“Everyone was wrong about me, and I often wonder where I would have ended up if my fourth grade teacher didn’t see the potential in me that she did,” Cocco said.