When I was a sophomore in high school, I had this English teacher who had this cool aura about her. I remember she spoke softly, like she was quiet but happy, and always had this look on her face as if she thought everything was interesting.
She also happened to be the journalism teacher, and our school newspaper was one of the few things my high school could be proud of. This was because we had the honor of being the only high school newspaper ranked in the top 10 across the country that was published weekly, not monthly.
I don’t remember if I had any plans on signing up for journalism, but I do remember sitting in my fourth period English class one morning when my teacher casually walked by my desk and placed a post-it note on it.
“See me after class,” it said.
I didn’t know what it could be about, but I stayed after the bell while all the other kids left for lunch.
“Have you thought about signing up for journalism?” she asked.
***
I began covering sports, mostly basketball and volleyball. I traveled with the teams, which was bitter sweet in the case of volleyball since I was on the jv team before tearing my meniscus earlier that year. I sat in the bleachers and watched the games and took notes. If it was a Thursday night game, I’d write my article on the bus on the way back to campus, where I’d stay late with the other journalism kids as we finished our articles, came up with headlines, and helped choose the best photos taken by the class photographers. Once we were done, we delivered a final draft to our printer who would print the papers that night so they’d be ready Friday morning for one of us to pick up and bring to school.
As I thought about what to write next, I was remembered my teacher and how it was all thanks to her that I got to attend journalism writing contests, eventually served as the sports editor my senior year, and got my first taste of what it’s like to be a writer.
Looking back, it’s funny to think about how a single post-it note made such a huge impact on my life, but of course that post-it note would have never made it onto my desk if not for a teacher who actually gave a damn.
I was curious what might have happened to her so I looked her up in the middle of writing this and she has a blog of all things lol. But the last time she published anything was in 2018.
I guess the pupil doesn’t fall far from the tree.
The consequential effect of having teachers who give a damn is underated…. My mom still despises mathematics, all thanks to her primary education maths teacher.