I don't know that I can narrow it down to just one teacher; it would have to be my entire school community that shaped the person I am today. Each teacher at Saint Patrick's Elementary School designed and molded me. The entire school community - the priest, the parents, the school cooks, the principals and the teachers- forever touched my heart.

My teachers
I often reflect on how much they invested into me and the other students, probably because I am a teacher now. But they lived at the school! Catholic schools do not receive federal or state funding like the public schools, so it was the teachers that held family dinners, ran basketball tourneys, begged for donations, and so much more. All for nothing! I am sure that their paychecks went right back into their classrooms and the school so we could have the resources that public schools had. But they loved each and everyone of us, and always wore a smile and greeted us with a hug. So I thank Mrs. Tiedt, Mrs. Brush, Mrs.Polman, Mrs. Deshon, Mrs. Yarbrough, Mr. Green, and Mrs. Wilcox. Not a single day goes by where I don't think of them. Because of their love, they live on in me through my interactions with my students and the people I encounter.
More importantly, I can't forget the parents. You see even though Saint Patrick's was a catholic school, the majority of the parents who sent their children their were the "working poor." The parents valued religion and education so much that they made sure that their child was immersed in those areas on a daily basis. They sacrificed so much to provide for their children. Not only did they pay to send their children there they also gave up many nights to volunteer to make sure our school could keep the doors open.
To my saddness and disbelief the doors of Saint Patrick's closed forever in May 2007. Yet even though those doors closed, they will never close in my heart and my memories.

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I have had lots of memorable teachers who have encouraged me through out high school and college, but the most memorable for me was a teacher that I had my first year in college. There wasn’t anything extraordinary about him as far as teachers go. He didn’t really seem to care too much about the students, and he was pretty set in his ways for example he wouldn’t allow students to ask questions during a lecture. But for me what was most memorable was his passion for his subject, history, and his encouragement for independent thought. Up until this point in my school career, history wasn’t a subject that I even really cared about. I couldn’t tell you the name of one history teacher that I had in high school, but the way this teacher lectured and set up his class intrigued me. After listening to his lectures, I became fascinated with history and would go and ask him questions about what we were talking about, and he started to direct me to non fiction books to read.
Then as I went more in-depth with my history reading, I started to see areas that I liked over others, and started to pick books that he had never recommended sometimes hadn’t heard about. I would then go discuss the books with him, and he would tell me what he thought, but then would listen to my own opinions on what the author was saying. At first our conversations were me agreeing with everything that he said, but then I started to develop strong opinions of my own that didn’t always agree with his. Yet he would still listen to me talk and express my opinion and would direct me to other books so I could see other sides of history arguments so that I would have a well rounded knowledge to base my opinion on. From his class I learned of my passion for history, but most importantly how to come up with my own ideas and opinions.

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I have been lucky to have as many wonderful teachers in my educational career. One of whom, I get to see every day of the week. Her name is Dawn Terrick and she was my professor in English 100; my very first English class at Missouri Western. Dawn was very adamant about getting her students to write. She cared so deeply for her students, and did everything she could to fulfill this goal. There were times when students wouldn’t even try, which tested Dawn’s dedication. She was always one step a head of her students.
At the time, I was determined to become a legal secretary, but it was in the middle of the semester, that I was introduced to a second possible major. Dawn handed me a letter along with my first task paper. In the letter, I was encouraged to consider a career in writing. Imagine that, me, a writer. I didn’t think it was quite possible to do so since I was in an introductory class.
I seriously thought about this over the next few months, and finally rested on journalism. I also added a second major a few years later; a B.S.E. in Education. It was because of Dawn that I double majored. She instilled in me the notion to teach. It was through her grace and magic that I too, decided to become an educator. When I look at Dawn, I imagine someone I could be. When I was a freshman in English 100, I was not confident in myself as a person as well as a writer. I had always loved English and had been writing since I could remember, but unfortunately, I let a standardized test get in the way of that. Just because you may score low in an area which interests you, does not mean you cannot do it. Don’t let it define you or what you want to become, which is exactly what I did. Thankfully, I was introduced to a teacher who truly cared and put forth the effort to make me love English and writing once again.

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