Stephanie Scott’s student breaks silence over her death
<p>Two years after beloved Leeton High School teacher <a href="/news/news/2016/10/stephanie-scotts-mother-honours-her-birthday/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stephanie Scott</span></strong></a> was tragically murdered, one of her students has spoken out for the first time about the impact his English and drama teacher had on not only his education, but his life as a whole.</p>
<p>“She wasn’t just a teacher, she was so much more than that,” former student Adam Mitchell tells <a href="http://www.whimn.com.au/talk/news/exclusive-stephanie-scotts-student-talks-for-the-first-time/news-story/147ba2ecb786555c4c37142fa803e770?utm_content=SocialFlow&utm_campaign=EditorialSF&utm_source=whimn&utm_medium=Facebook" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Whimn</span></strong></a>. “Her drama class was more than just another class in the school.</p>
<p>“She had an infectious spirit and she was really able to connect with her students. She was only 10 years older than us but she was able to bridge that gap. I think fun is an understatement in terms of who she was.</p>
<p>“She was just able to relate with children and she made it fun. Some lessons she could tell that the energy in the room was down and instead of making us sit down and do theory, we had to work on our pieces. She knew that it was more important to have a moment in the day where we could sit around and talk and play games. She let us all have a moment to express ourselves, to have a release so we could continue on with our day.”</p>
<p>Scott was last seen on April 5, 2015. Five days later, her burnt body was found on the Cocoparra National Park. Her rapist and murderer, school cleaner Vincent Stanford, was sentenced to life in prison in October, just one day before what would have been her 28th birthday.</p>
<p>Mitchell recalled a particularly poignant moment for him, when the then-26-year-old teacher approached him after class, sensing something was wrong. “It was the last period of the day and I walked out of the class a bit frustrated and annoyed and down,” he said. “She ran after me and said ‘Adam, Adam,’ and persisted until I stopped and spoke to her about it.</p>
<p>“You can always spare time to be nice to someone, that's her defining message to me.”</p>
