To My High School Teachers,

There are so many things to thank you for. You all made an impact on my high school experience in some way, shape, or form. You didn't just change my life, you also helped the hundreds of kids that walked through and continue to walk through those halls everyday. You aren't given nearly enough credit for what you do. I believe you have one of the toughest jobs in the business. You deal with kids who are unmotivated and turn them into graduates. You treat every student with respect, even if they don't return the favor to you. You took what could be some of the worst of times and turned it into some of the best.

Freshmen year is a fresh beginning, and a rude awakening. Many kids stick with the same middle school friends, but many don't. New friendships are being formed, some good, some bad. This year is all about the newness of high school. My teachers understood this and every time I walked through the door of your classes, many of you greeted me with a smile. Many of you took the time to get to know every student in your classes. Many of you had past students always coming in to say hi, giving me the hope that I too could form those long lasting friendships with you. I complained way too much in your classes and you would just laugh at me. You knew that I would look back and realize just how easy your classes were. You all constantly checked on me, and started building a foundation for what was to come.

Sophomore year the work load increased, but along with it, your ability to relate to your students increased. This is the year you all shared your life experiences with us and supported us for what was to come. You continued to support us all, and even began attending our school events to watch us play/perform. You kept up with us from freshman year and even had some of us again. This is the year that you stressed STAR tests and even had to start to stress AP tests. You had to teach us based on a boring standardized testing platform, but somehow you made it fun. You took over our class as a sponsor and began the long long journey of putting together the senior prom. This is the year that you began to go from a teacher to a mentor.

Junior year was the toughest year. This is the year most drama unfolds. This is the year my friend group broke up, and I looked to teachers to help mentor me. This is the year you all become our go to people. This is also the year the work load gets to be hard. APUSH is a killer. You all realized that and continued to support us. This is the year I started eating lunch in your classes, and getting to school early or staying late just to hang out with you all. This is the year you all share college experiences with us and begin to push us down the path of finding our future homes. I hated this year, but loved this year. My teachers are what made this year bearable.

Senior Year comes and the relationships are past the point of just a regular friendship. They are long lasting, just like I pictured freshmen year. This year you were on our side the entire way. Every student wanted to graduate and you were all there to help make it happen. You were all there through the college acceptances, prom drama, and year of lasts. It was this year that I realized what going off to college meant leaving behind, all of my high school teachers. You all each spent the year writing recommendation letters, proofing essays, and encouraging early applications. When we all were fighting for class rank, you gave us all a fair shot. You laughed at the competitive drive we all had to get .001 point higher than the next guy, but you used it to your benefit. You gave us long research paper assignments and also understood that senioritis was a real thing. You let us watch movies, but also made us observe every single car in the parking lots to study their effects on the environment. You were just as excited about how far into playoffs soccer and baseball went as we were. You even traveled the long distances to support those teams filled with past/current students. Every single one of you wanted to be there to help on prom night and for project graduation. You supported our senior class from the start and continued to support it all the way through. You even came back to watch us all graduate after moving schools the year before.You all supported me from day one, and continued to support me throughout my high school career. I look back on the past four years and realize what you created, a loving environment with an educational goal of preparing us all for college. You all gave me the skills that led to me getting into my dream school. Graduation day came fast, and there were tears, but I was prepared for the next step thanks to you all.

Even now, I am an hour and half away and you all send encouraging messages and check up on me. Thank you. Many people do not give you all enough credit for what you did and continue to do everyday. To all the coaches, teachers, administration, SROs, secretaries, nurses, parking lot attendants, copy room staff, and substitutes (and others that I missed), continue to do what you do best, molding the next generation. Every day students are impacted by what you do. Your work is going a long way, and is giving students the tools needed to succeed at the next level.

Thank you.

Sic 'em Teachers. Sic 'em High School.