My friend, my second parent, my therapist, my supporter, and one of the best people I’ve ever known: my teacher, Doctor Daniel Oswald.

High school is not easy for any kid, it’s a time of ups and downs, a time where you grow and begin to find yourself. For the few of us that had a person like you throughout high school, I would say we are extremely fortunate. It’s been three years since I’ve left high school, yet I still find myself coming in to see you and calling you up because you are still a huge influence on my life.

You believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. You were not just my radio teacher, you were my life teacher. You have told me things that I didn’t want to tell myself and as much as I hate to admit it you were always right. There is not a situation I can think of where you didn’t have my best interest at heart. You looked out for me like I was your own daughter and on a personal level that meant more than you know. On days where I was down or felt like giving up you reminded me of how capable I was. Truthfully, You are the reason I know I can accomplish anything I put my mind to.

You were there for me through the good, the bad, and the ugly. I found comfort knowing I could come to you whenever to find support and true honest advice. Although I might have taken you for granted having you writing me late passes to class, I wouldn’t have traded that time with you for anything. Knowing I was going to your class every day made high school much more bearable. I knew coming in to see you meant endless laughs with whatever silly jokes you had planned for that day.

Although I may have called you annoying on some occasions, your sense of humor is probably the thing I miss most. Your incredible ability to make light of any situation has taught me to never take life too seriously. At the time, I never understood why you would always crack some of the jokes that you did, but now I see it was just because you simply wanted me to realize that my little problems were not as big as I thought they were.

To this day, I still feel as though my hardest part about leaving high school was leaving you behind. It scared me to imagine being in a place where I couldn’t come into your office and sit on your couch to talk with you every day. What scared me even more was your fear of us forgetting you because personally, I could never forget you. You’re the teacher that I tell my college friends about, the teacher my family always asks me about, the teacher I know I will tell my children about, the teacher who also became my best friend.

I miss you Doc, and I will never forget you. You will always be that teacher who changed my life for the better.