Day 17: Teachers

I had some of the best teachers when I was in elementary school. In 4th grade it was Mrs. Loeliger; 6th grade brought me Mrs. Caley, Mrs. Engleson, and Ms. Ryzak; and there was this substitute teacher, Mr. Hamilton, that always sought to inspire us. We never did school work with him, really: we always got to hear fantastic stories while he gave us “busy work”. I can picture him like I just saw him, and I randomly will think of him. He was the guy that told us any of us could be President or a doctor or a firefighter or whatever we wanted to be. He encouraged us all that he could and every child, from the bully to the shy kid, was ecstatic when we came into class and saw him standing there waiting for us.

The other teachers encouraged my writing dream. I was a kid, writing silly stories in my personal binder, and turning in writing exercises. My teachers always made a point to tell me that my writing was really great and that I should pursue a career in it someday if I was passionate. I would let Mrs. Loeliger read my personal stories, and she loved them. Or said she did, I don’t know…I always figured they were just saying that at the time. But then my senior English teacher, Mrs. Clay, told me the same thing. In the years since, it’s meant a lot to me. I have at any given time two or three ideas for books, and I never write them down. It’s mostly fear. I don’t want to put myself out there with something that means this much to me and have anyone criticize me. My most recent idea is a kids’ series about a rambunctious and precocious orange kitty named Dewey that has all sorts of adventures. Haha…what can I say, I use stuff around me to formulate ideas.

In any case, the stories will most likely stay in my head, but their encouragement was always appreciated. Mrs. DeFino in junior high was great, too. She pushed me to join Academic Pentathlon and signed me up for her AP history class in the 8th grade so I could have her a second year in a row. She told me I was smart and I believed her and appreciated her for it. I like that I had some good teachers mixed in there, with all the blah or bad ones. That’s what teachers are supposed to do, encourage and nurture their students. I am grateful for the handful that did that for me…it meant a lot, even if I never follow their advice. Who knows, maybe someday… =)