I'm writing to you from the beautiful town of Verona, Wisconsin, home of Epic Headquarters.
I'm here for work training and while I miss my family, I'm not gonna lie, it is kind of like a mini vacation. This is the 5th time I've been here and the place gets bigger every time. It is such a beautiful campus and they feed you delicious and fresh food. I also enjoy learning, so it is a good deal all around.
The weather was gorgeous here today, so even though I did a quick treadmill run in the morning at the hotel, I decided to get out and find somewhere to hike after class. I decided to check out the Ice Age National Scenic Trail.
I've been tossing around the thought of doing a blog post on teachers and how life altering they can be, but since it isn't really on topic, I kept pushing it to the back of my mind. However, a few things have left me to believe that there must be some reason I'm being prompted to write this. So I apologize for the brief detour that the rest of this post will be.
I've been trying to get through "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis for a couple of months now. It takes me forever to get through books. Today I read something that really resonated with me
"Anyone who is honestly trying to be a Christian will soon find his intelligence being sharpened: one of the reasons why it needs no special education to be a Christian is that Christianity is an education itself." (Pg 78)
I love to learn. I'll be a lifelong learner. If I had unlimited time and money, I would be a college student forever. However, since I'm still paying for the last 7 years of my education, I need to do the educating on my own. I think that is why I am so thirsty for The Word right now and why I am finding so much desire to just keep digging. My brain is becoming sharper, I'm thinking about things I've never thought about before....I'm getting educated, and I'm not paying thousands of dollars to do it!
Throughout my 18+ years of schooling, I've had many teachers. Maybe it is just me, but I'm guessing that most of us can agree that a majority of the teachers we've had in our lifetime were just plain old forgettable. Not really great, not terrible, just average. However, there are some that are excellent and some that are horrible, both can drastically change the trajectory of a person's life. I've had both experiences.
My 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Schuette, was a horrible teacher, at least for me. It was one moment, one decision, that gave her that rank in my book. We had taken a science test that did not go well for me. I had typically done pretty well academically, but I bombed that test. The whole class had done pretty badly and she was upset and ranting to the class and apparently my grade (a D) was more noteworthy than the myriad of others. She proceeded to tell the ENTIRE class "even Tammy got a D, what happened?" I can still picture her disappointed look as she waited for me to say something, but I wasn't able to find any words as my lips trembled and my eyes filled with tears. I have hated science since that day and although I didn't know it was possible to have less self confidence than I already had at that point, my self doubt was taken to an entirely new level. I carried on in school doing the best that I could, but always feeling like I wasn't good enough. I frequently missed school that year because I was "sick" (too depressed) to go.
Fast forward a couple of years to my 8th grade year. As if being a chubby, self deprecating thirteen year old wasn't difficult enough, I got to do it as the "new kid". My 8th grade year started off with a lot of tears due to a lot of torment by one girl who was literally half my size. I think a nervous laugh after I accidentally served a volleyball into her friend's face made me an instant enemy. The old saying "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me"....yeah, that is a bunch of bologna (I just had to sing Oscar Meyer has a way with b-o-l-o-g-n-a to spell that correctly). I don't even remember what was said, but I know that many anxiety attacks, tear stained pillows and complete fear going to school each day were the norm. I didn't have any friends and I desperately wanted to go back where I came from. That was until my science teacher (ironic, I know), Mrs. Handy, picked up on something. She pulled me aside after class one day and asked if I was doing ok and I'm pretty sure I completely lost it and turned into a pile of tears. I explained what had been happening and she took action. I was so relieved, finally someone cared...I had gone for months with the volleyball and basketball coaches being completely aware of what was going on and doing nothing about it.
I ended up in the counselors office with my "bully" and after a few meetings, things eventually stopped. I could go to school without being afraid anymore, hooray! But that wasn't the end of the impact that Mrs. Handy made, although that alone would have left her in my good graces for many years to come. She also recognized that I was doing well academically and pulled some strings to have me put into the advanced English class. For a nerd like me, that was "making it" as far as 8th grade is concerned and it did wonders for my self confidence. For the first time in a long time, I actually felt like I was worth something. I started pouring myself into school and it was evident on my report cards. (We'll just gloss over the fact that I eventually ended up being obsessed with my grades in a very unhealthy way during high school.)
If she had never taken the time to invest in my life, I know I would not be the person that I am today, quite honestly, I don't know if I would even be alive.....which is the other horrible irony in this story. Mrs. Handy literally saved my 13 year old life and sadly, a few years later took her own. I still cry when I think about it. At our senior awards banquet we had to recognize a teacher or someone that had impacted our lives. Many students wanted to recognize her, she was just that awesome, but the school administrators politely requested that they choose someone else...I refused. I couldn't give someone else the credit that she deserved and I don't think there was a dry eye in the place when I got done with my little speech.
Teachers have incredible power and most of it has absolutely nothing to do with the content that is being taught in the classroom. Don't get me wrong, content is also very important, (Thank you Mrs. Nygren for being a phenomenal AP English teacher and teaching us how to properly write a research paper, many college professors have been pleased with your work) but years down the road, many of us don't remember most of what we learned in class, but we will always remember what the teacher helped us learn about ourselves.
So for all of you teachers out there that get bogged down by the piles of papers to correct, parents who think you are doing it all wrong and kids who seem like they don't even care, know that what you are doing is important and you could be changing someones life without even knowing it simply by paying attention. Thank you for doing what you do.
Do you have a teacher, coach or mentor who has changed your life? Let them know while you still have the chance.... (And let me know too, cause I like stories like that) As Jason Strand taught us at EBC last weekend, "If you think something nice, SAY IT!"
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