My Teachers
Today I'm giving thanks for all of the teachers who have invested in me over the years.
Teachers don’t receive enough credit for the great work they do and the lives changed. They also often don’t get to see the long-term positive effects of their investments.
While there are many teachers from high school and middle school I could speak about at length, a few that I want to make sure I call out are Judy Schafer, Brad Weber, Judy Zobel, Rocky Ruhl, Dan Johnson, Jill Pickinpaugh, and Kathy Fink.
Mr. Weber was our high school band teacher and he was respected by all. In small town Nebraska, nearly everyone was in band. We all wanted to get superiors at our band competitions and he pushed us to be our best.
Ms. Zobel was our freshman science teacher. She had high standards and we were all better for it. I’m also grateful for her part in selecting me to go on a trip to Japan between my junior and senior year that Sony sponsored. That trip really expanded my horizons.
Mr. Ruhl taught Algebra and Calculus. But he was also the cross country and basketball coach, which he was amazing at.
Mr. Johnson was our history teacher in junior high. We listened to Paul Harvey every day. This was also back in the days when if you wanted to check stock quotes, you had to do so in the paper. I did that every day.
Mrs. Pickinpaugh was my sixth grade home room teacher. Sixth grade is a tough age and she handled it gracefully.
Mrs. Fink was our home ec. teacher in junior high. I’ll never forget the time she pulled me aside and told me she expected more from me. It had an impact.
Mrs. Schafer was our senior English teacher. I was definitely coasting through my senior year. At one point I straight up told her that it just didn’t seem like the work I was doing in her class mattered much. She didn’t get mad, but she calmly told me how important writing would be later on in life and she managed to get through to me. I think she was later thrilled to know just how right she was when she heard how many philosophy papers I had to write in college.
To get a sense of just how much Mrs. Schafer invested in her students and how well she dealt with “senioritis”, check out this letter from her to her students that I found online. I’m pretty sure I received something similar, but I don’t have a copy. The whole letter is masterfully written, but check out that third paragraph especially.
Great teachers make a lasting impact and I’m grateful for all the teachers who invested in me over the years.
Mrs. Schafer, Mr. Weber, Ms. Zobel, Mr. Ruhl, Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Pickinpaugh, Mrs. Fink, and to all my other unnamed teachers over the years- thank you for your investments in me and so many other students.
Originally posted on LinkedIn – head over to give it a like or a share.
I’m giving thanks for 100+ days to individuals that positively impacted me or HomeSpotter’s trajectory.