“FIRST NAME…”

It’s pretty rare you come across a teacher that you can connect with when you only see them in class. Most people can connect between extracurriculars or sports, but in a normal classroom setting it’s no so easy.

This teacher has proved to be an exception to the rule. I went into the classroom with a lot of preconceived notions, as I’d been told a lot of different things by a lot of different alumni. After having spent a year as her student, I found that everything I heard was wrong, because everything fell short of truly describing her – no one can really explain this teacher, you just have to learn on your own.

To say I pushed the boundaries of “school acceptable” in her class would be an understatement, but every time I was sprinting past the line she was there helping me refine my work into something not only edgy and controversial, but well-written and respectable. She knew that my writing was just an expression of who I was, and took something most teachers would have gawked at and helped me form it into something original.

She takes the novels that absolutely no one wants to read, and somehow makes her class hate them a little less (not much, but hey, she’s not Jesus). Maybe it’s her own enthusiasm that gives her naive students hope as they open the first page of Heart of Darkness and see .5pt size font. Or that she lets her class make their own little versions of Hell (no, I’m serious) in her room. But what I know for sure, is that if Arnel every lets her leave this school for another, it’ll be one of the biggest losses this school ever faces.

This teacher has not only pushed me to be better, but has inspired me to.

Not only encouraged me to expand my horizons, but helped me to.

Not only taught me, but became someone I see as a friend.

“FIRST NAME: SHOCK!”

“LAST NAME: DOG!”

This one’s for you, Shockley. Thanks for everything.