As seniors in high school, we couldn’t wait to graduate and leave for college. No more worrying about cops busting parties, no more curfews, no more busy work, and no more crowded hallways. In college you gain things like friends, experiences, knowledge, and stories. Yet, everyone seems to forget about what you loose. One of them being the student-teacher connection that so many of us formed throughout our four years in high school.

If there is one thing I miss about high school, it’s the teachers. College is different from high school in the sense that your classes go from 20 students to 400 in a single lecture hall. Then, you get split up based your TA, so even then you’re not getting help from your actual professor unless you go to their office hours. Going from high school teachers to college professors is somewhat of a shock. In college, your professor won’t cut you any slack for missing assignments or being absent on a test day, and whatever excuses you may have, whether legitimate or not, don’t fly in college like they did in high school.

When you go to college, you lose that certain comfort and connection. High school teachers care more about each individual student than professors. It’s not to say that professors don’t care at all, it’s just that they simply have too many students to have time to give them individual, need-based attention. Office hours are great, but they’re not the same. You’re there for one reason: to get help on your assignments. With high school teachers, you could walk into their rooms, unannounced and simply chat for a half hour or so.

Whether you’re still in high school or graduated four years ago, it’s never too late to so thank you to your high school teachers.

Thank you for your patience. I can’t imagine the amount of self-restraint it takes to keep calm in a classroom filled with 15-18 year olds who think they know more than you. And thank you for repeating yourself at least 5 times for those who were texting while you explained the assignment.

Thank you for caring, even when your students didn’t. In college, there are some professors whose main concern is their research, and teaching is just something they have to do on the side. For high school teachers, teaching is their passion, their reason for getting up in the morning. That type of intrinsic motivation is what propels them to come in early or stay late to help students.

Thank you for working long past the 40-hour workweek so that your students could get their grades back quickly.

Thank you for teaching us how to survive college. I would’ve dropped out in the first month if my teachers hadn’t taught me how to study and manage my time.

Thank you for doing your job even though it can be underappreciated at times.

Thank you for changing me as a student and person. Whether it be academically or personally, you have impacted your students more than you may know.

There are hundreds of things that we should thank our high school teachers for, or any teacher for that matter. This isn’t meant to put a damper on the joys of graduation or going into your first year of college, but don’t forget to appreciate the things that you have now. Professors aren’t like teachers you’ve had before. For some students that may be a good thing, but for most, their high school teachers will be dearly missed, whether they admit it or not.