As we go through the early stages of our memorable life, we meet people along the way who can impact us much more than we know at the time. Sometimes, we don't realize just how strongly they have influenced our lives until a few years later, but when it finally dawns on us, it makes every memory that much more special.

There are times when we don't meet a person this special until later on in life, sometimes not until we have already settled down into a career, but I was lucky enough to find a person like this in high school, and I couldn't be more thankful. Of course, with being a teenager and having to wake up at 6 a.m. every day and stay in one building until late in the afternoon, complaints came no matter who you were. However, at the end of the day, through all the homework we didn't want to do and all the vocabulary we didn't want to learn and all the gossiping we wanted to do instead of listening, it took some special people to be able to bite their lip and keep after us, not for their sake, but for us, and only us. Those people are teachers, and as I said, I was lucky enough to get to know a teacher who's life lessons still cross my mind once in awhile, along with such memories and pronouncing the word "sedan" correctly and trying to act out fairy tales among six people in a foreign language that only one spoke fluently.

When you're a freshman, there are a lot of things you don't understand and there is a lot that makes you nervous, timid, and afraid to be yourself. In my instance, there was a point when I was afraid to answer too many questions in class for fear of being labeled (anyone recall the name "teacher's pet?). However, there was one class that I just loved so much not because of the subject, but because of the enthusiasm and the encouragement of the teacher that fifteen-year-old me didn't care about any of that. The more I thought about it, the more the enthusiasm she gave me for that class carried over into all of my other classes until fear and labels were the farthest words from my mind. As a freshman, you taught me to not care what others thought without even knowing, and that is one of the most important things I still carry with me, six years after that first year.

Sophomore year, in both high school and college, seem to be the year that you make the biggest changes in your life, even though it means going through some of the hardest things in your life up to that point. Sophomore year was one of the hardest and most challenging and confusing emotional years of my life, and having someone notice that and be there with you, even in the most subtle of ways, can make all the difference. I remember times when I would stay a few moments after class just to gather myself and you wouldn't mind at all. I remember a couple of times I came to class either having or nearly having a breakdown and you didn't tell me to get over it and get ready for class like the naive sophomore in me expected. You cared more than I could've ever predicted and it amazed me how much you cared about each and every one of us individually as a person, got to know us in different ways.

During junior year, we had a new teacher for the class and all of us were crushed. Not to say this new teacher wasn't awesome, but it just wasn't the same. I still remember visiting your classroom as much as I could, and during the last few weeks of the year, completely rearranging and cleaning out some of your room. There were a few of us tackling this project, and it never felt like a student-teacher help, it was fun and natural.

Senior year was probably the year that I remember the most in terms of advice and influence. We had a class of five plus you, but it was the best class I had ever had, and still is to this day. The amount of laughs we all had every eighth period are too infinite to count. I never looked forward to eighth period more in my life, and that is saying something. We had so many hilarious moments, so many shared thoughts and inside jokes, so many adventures and new things (drawing for some, acting for others), so many parties and secret food days, and I will never forget it. I mean, you spent a portion of the time teaching me to say "sedan" correctly, pointing out the difference between the Taliban and the Autobahn, calming my publci speaking and speech freak-outs, and breaking up the crying laughing arguments about Teeps and the airplane station and "gently setting the dictionary on the ground." And how could I forget bat juice, the panicked geography lessons, and Mandonese. All those times you paused class to teach me/us a life lesson were not in vain because I find myself recalling back to them many days (especially your stories about being a science major for a time when I needed a laugh). I still have the post card and pen you gave me on the last day of school, and the list of things you wrote to me not to forget, and they never fail to make me smile.

Number seven on that list was "You will be okay," and two years later, I think I can finally say that maybe you were right. You were right because a huge part of why I am okay was because of you and all that you taught me, school-wise and life-wise, and I can't thank you enough for it.

So, this is to you, Mrs. Shayka. Thank you for being a friend. The influence of a good teacher can never be erased, and you are more than just another teacher.

Much love,

"Mandonese Teeps" (no, the marriage did NOT happen)