Jessica Osterlie

Meet our February 2021 RemarkAble Citizen of the Month, Jessica Osterlie!

Jessica is a student at West Salem School District. Like most kids in the area, she began school completely virtual. 

"Online classes for Jessica definitely isn't easy, but she adapted better than expected by always focusing on the bright side of it," Brenda Osterlie, Jessica's mom, said. "She would say 'I love getting to use a laptop.'"

Jessica faced a few obstacles in the beginning, including sometimes not understanding what the teacher was saying. She would stay quiet and not interact. But with time, she overcame this and began to speak up, ask questions, and became comfortable emailing her teacher after class for more help. Another hurdle she overcame was the comfort of knowing there was an additional para in the online class to help her, and sometimes the para couldn't be there. Initially, she would panic, but then it ended up giving her confidence that she really could do some of these things all on her own. 

"Routine changes can be challenging," Teresa DeLong, a close friend of the family said. "She did a remarkable job staying focused."

Jessica at her school from home desk

Jessica returned to inperson classes in January, which she is happy about.

In her free time, Jessica loves being a helper and always helps people whenever she can. She is also huge into doing puzzles, completing 2-3, 300 piece puzzles each week. She is a total busy body, averaging 18,000 steps a day on her Fitbit. Another fun fact about Jessica is she is an amazing hula hooper. 

Jessica loves independence and learning how to become even more independent. She wants to have her own apartment one day and work full time. She currently has a job at West Salem Elementary school where she helps in the lunchroom. She loves being around and helping little kids. 

Jessica is truly remarkAble!