I'm a junior middle-level education major and currently in my third real field placement: a class of 21 sixth-graders who have stolen my heart. Like any class, they range in ability, attitude and appearance. They range in race and nationality, familial structure and religious beliefs. I have 21 students, with 21 very different stories and 21 individual places in my heart.

But there is one student who, in three weeks, has seeded herself so deeply in my heart that I will never forget her.

To the student who left,

Though your English wasn't great, I understood your smile. I watched as you struggled to understand my lessons, and I watched you, determined as ever, to finish every assignment on your own. I saw you successfully interacting with your peers and felt the excitement for you as you made them your friends.

I heard the story you were ashamed to share: before coming to America, you had never seen the inside of a school. You spent your first 8 or 9 years picking coffee beans instead of learning to read. Your bedtime was when the work was done, and you played mother to your little sister instead of learning to multiply and divide. Your family has been torn between two countries, and you don't always know what's next.

But, sweet girl, please don't be ashamed. You have undoubtedly worked harder in your short 11 years than I have in my 20. You have dedicated time to two languages, two families, two countries and many schools. Your smile brightened every classroom you entered and your determination has made all of your teachers immensely proud.

I am saddened to know that you will no longer be in my classroom.

I hope with all I am that the next school you walk into gets that same version of you. I hope that every teacher that meets you from here on out knows just how lucky they are to teach you. I hope that you never give up, because I have seen you succeed and you are much more intelligent than you know.

Most of all, I hope you know that, though I no longer get to teach you, I will always think of you and will never, ever forget you.