So long as I live, I don’t think I’ll ever forget my sixth grade reading class with Mrs. Colburn.

How could I? We had a “medieval feast,” replete with medieval garb, food (bread bowls and beef stew), and décor, to cap our unit reading about the Middle Ages. Our room became England of old.

From both the day-to-day operations (writing thought-provoking journal entries) to other grand operations on the level of the feast (such as making hieroglyphics from clay in a unit on Egypt), there was not a day that I wasn’t engaged in that class.

I’m 22 now, and yet I still have vivid memories of a class from 10 years ago when my brain was still developing. There is no doubt that Mrs. Colburn and her class had a powerful impact on my life, not just in what I learned from her subject but in what I learned from how she carried herself.

Put simply, she was passionate about what she did and seemed to enjoy her work every day. Teachers like that are rare, but believe me, I noticed when I had them. I knew that I wanted to live life like they did, doing something that I loved that much.

There are bad teachers out there, but I’ve had plenty that were good and even great in their own way. There is a unique power in the position, the ability to help shape young lives for better or for worse. Teachers spend almost as much time with youth in the classroom as their parents do outside of school.

I’ll always remember the teachers who made time for me, who took time to get to know me as a person and listen when things were difficult. I’ll always appreciate the teachers who made a subject come alive to me, opening new worlds of information and new ways of looking at the world. I’ll always be grateful for the teachers (and coaches, for that matter) who helped me push myself further than I thought I could go.

Teachers have a unique power to influence their students; this much is clear.

Most people have had teachers who weren’t so great as well, but even then we find ourselves influenced. Sometimes we learn to dislike a subject not because of the subject itself, but because of how the teacher presented it.

I wanted the chance to use that position for good, and that’s why I studied to be a teacher in my undergraduate work. That’s also why I’m getting my masters degree in school counseling. I firmly believe that educators can change the world, because educators can change parts of the lives of their students.

I’m not an idealist – I know I won’t fix everything, and I know some students will struggle and even crash despite my best efforts to help. That’s life. But I also know that even for the student for whom everything seems to have gone wrong in life, one positive attachment can make something of a difference.

Mrs. Colburn used to tell the story of a teacher she had when she grew up, someone who brought the lessons to life. It was that experience, she explained, that inspired her to enter the teaching field.

I hope that she sees that she, and several other excellent teachers I had along the way, inspired me to do the same. I didn’t enter the field of education for the impact I think it can have.

I entered the field because of the impact I know it has.