Two years ago Riki Nunn entered Roseville High School facing usual first-year transition struggles, while also combating both dyslexia and audio displacement. Dyslexia, also known as reading disorder, is characterized by trouble with reading and writing despite normal intelligence, and it’s something Nunn has struggled with since childhood.

Despite setbacks, he’s taken it upon himself to pursue his dream of teaching. According to Nunn, with just over a year of teaching at RHS under his belt, he loves teaching AVID and World Studies to sophomores and Gov/Econ to seniors, as well as what RHS has to offer.

“I really enjoy it here,” Nunn said. “It’s a learning curve with my students, but after they get a feel for me I think most of them go on board. I believe the students and I have an overall good relationship.”

Growing up, Nunn had troubles with his writing coordination, and his hands would struggle to keep up with his brain as a child. 

“My hands would write as a lag, like my brain would be thinking ‘I’m on the fourth word in a sentence’ when in reality I was writing the second word down, so it would skip two words and then keep going,” Nunn said.

Nunn struggled when it came down to writing and other school work, and still has trouble sometimes today.

“I ended up leaving special education in high school since I wanted to pursue more things, so I’ve kind of just been dealing with it,” Nunn said. “On the board at school I tend to always write in all caps with the exception of a few words in lowercase, which drives my students crazy at times, but it’s what gets me through.”

According to Nunn, growing up with dyslexia was difficult, in that it was hard having to constantly write in class when that was what he struggled with. He also wishes he had had a better support system from his teachers at that time, who would’ve influenced and motivated him to be better.

“My teachers were supportive of me when I was younger, but not always in the way I would’ve liked. I can remember my fourth grade teacher Mrs. Wong making me redo everything that I turned in, and her refusing to grade it,” Nunn said. “I thought she was the meanest teacher ever, but students may not agree or appreciate a teacher for being on top of them at that time, and after a couple years down the road you truly realize how much it helped you in the long run.

Principal David Byrd was more than happy to add Nunn to RHS’ staff and appreciates his enthusiastic persona as well as his positivity regarding his own background and what’s to come.

“Anytime I see someone who has a passion for teaching and working with kids, you can tell they’re going to work hard at this and be successful at it, and that’s what I saw in Mr. Nunn,” Byrd said. “His challenges with dyslexia was another reason we knew he would be a great teacher because when you have someone who willingly admits they’ve had struggles and their life isn’t perfect, you know they’re going to be empathic to the 35 kids in their class facing similar problems.”

Having firsthand experience with a disability, Nunn relates to the students in the special education program at RHS, and understands the challenges and difficulties they have to face in their daily lives. He makes it necessary to treat them equally in his class, and appreciates the hard work they do. 

“Special education holds some of the hardest working kids out here, and they do very well,” Nunn says. “I challenge them in my classes to do just the same as everyone else because I know that’s what I would have wanted as a kid.”

According to junior  Jared Tavares, Nunn is a good teacher because of his ability to understand and connect with his students.

“I thought he was cool. He’s very straightforward with what he thinks,” Tavares said. “ I like that he’s very relatable since he’s still pretty young and kinda understands you as a student. All around he’s very helpful.”

Senior Sydney Lyttle appreciates Nunn’s willingness to teach and the inspiration he brings to other students.  

“I think he’s a cool teacher. I think it’s great that he’s teaching and trying to overcome dyslexia. It’s definitely inspiring to other students who have learning disabilities,” Lyttle said

According to Nunn’s mother, Lisa Vorbeck, Nunn being diagnosed with audio displacement was an obstacle for both him and the family.

Due to the tedious process of teachers forcing Nunn to redo his work and having to be taught to write on almost primitive computers, Vorbeck claims the path to transition her son out of special education classes was frustrating.

“Redoing work over and over again was just so painful for Riki, all he wanted to do was play with his friends,” Vorbeck said. “But he was very smart, always has been. Although frustration was an issue, everyone in the family was very supportive of him and of each other.”

Although there are still signs of the audio displacement presently, Vorbeck doesn’t think of them as what held her son back during those years, and credits Nunn for overcoming his obstacles so well.

“Today I don’t even think about it, Riki has just moved on so well. He did great at Sierra College and UC Davis, he’s just excelled so much,” Vorbeck said. “Sometimes it really is that not every child learns the same way and it’s important to find out how that child learns and then help them grow from that point.”

Nunn credits overcoming his obstacles to not letting himself make any excuses and was motivated by several people to get where he is now.

“I’ve overcome these obstacles with hard work and not taking any excuses and I’ve been motivated by a lot of people,” Nunn said. “It’s just working hard, practicing, and sometimes you have to slow down and stop, take your time, make it legible, and eventually you just learn what works for you.”