Dear Mr. Sharofsky,
I cannot tell you how excited I was when I found out you were going to be my teacher. I thought I was going to have the upper-hand, with you already having had my brother four years earlier. But I quickly realized that I was going to have to learn to become my own student. I could no longer coast on the "my brother" excuse, or the weird in-between "I'm still a baby" excuse. It was time to grow and start defining myself as the kind of student I wanted to be.
And so I started finding a routine and I found myself more interested in school and educating myself than I ever had before. I blame that on you, Mr. Sharofsky. On your sarcastic, quick-witted, insightful answers to our confused questions. On your stern, reprimands (that were much deserved). On your straight-forward teaching and endless patience (especially when a student got a comb stuck in his hair on Picture Day).
I met one of my best friends in your class. You seated us next to each other and, at first, we just sat there in silence, not really knowing what to say to each other. I don't know what was said or hat triggered it, but we quickly hit it off and at the time, it felt like it was the two of us against the world. I will never be able to thank you enough for you unknowing match-making (or maybe you knew exactly what you were doing). We would spend the next six years causing trouble, making plans for the future, starting a band, and a million other things that will never slip away from me, even if she did.
I remember you told me on the last day of school, that you were so proud of my growth in your class and that I was going to do great things. It was that motivation that got me to where I am now, no matter how small the gesture might have seemed then.
I am now preparing to go into my senior year of college at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. I am a Journalism and Media Studies major and a Music and Sociology double minor (and I am thinking of completing a third in Digital Communication and Information Media, just for fun). It as a rough start, but I've made it on the Dean's List the last three semesters. I am a Founding Mother of a Service Sorority and the Founding Secretary, a position I held for three years.
It's funny how as you are ending your journey through the education world with retirement, I am just about to end mind. I'll admit I am sad my future children won't have you to teach them how to make volcanoes or match them with their best friend, but I am happy I got a chance to have had my mind unlocked by your kind and motivating words.
I hope retirement treats you well,
Brittany Bayne
