It was no secret that I hated high school – my friends knew it, my parents knew it, the administration knew it, and my teachers knew it. But in my haste to graduate, I forgot to thank the teachers that made a real difference in my life; the ones who made high school suck a little less. Guys, this is for you.
To the teacher who taught me confidence:
After four years of chamber music ensemble with you, I feel as though I could definitely call you a homie. Never have I ever had a teacher whose personality matched mine so closely. You always picked up on my attitude from the moment I walked in the door and were always able to match me sass for sass.
But besides being a friend to joke around with, you also pushed me to become a better musician, to be a leader, and to try new things. You saw a potential in me I never knew I had. You talked me into learning higher positions, and into doing pit orchestras. You constantly lectured me about being a leader, so much so that, to everyone else’s annoyance, I was basically running chamber my senior year.
The confidence you had in me helped me grow my self-confidence. Freshman year I was so insecure about everything, and I can honestly credit you with showing me how to be a self-assured person. You taught me a lot about connecting with people, as well as about how to take charge of a situation. You taught me that if there’s something I wanted fixed, I have the power to fix it.
Oh, and you taught me about the circle of fifths.
To the teacher who taught me to be myself:
I never knew, nor perhaps will I ever know, exactly what you thought of me – be it as a student or as a person in general. Year after year, you listened to me complain about your LAPs, about my life, and about school overall. You entertained my opinions and ideas (be it a homoerotic theory about Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby, or a rant about how lame of a holiday I think Valentines’ Day is) without judgment, and challenged me to support those ideas. Despite the fact that I didn’t do so hot in your classes (my essays always seemed to just miss the intended topic), I still find myself reflecting on the class discussions (or rather, lectures you gave since myself and my peers typically refused to participate) on the books we read – discussions on Orwell’s 1984 comes to mind quite frequently.
Whether you liked me or not, you gave me the freedom to be myself. While you were – rightfully – critical of my papers, I feel that you always respected me, which is a quality I have found to be quite rare in teachers, especially given the amount of flat-out unintelligent things I’ve said around you. You were supportive and non-threatening when I chose to talk to you about my (romantic and platonic) relationships.
I know I never made it super clear how much I appreciated either of you, so for that, I apologize. You both inspire me, and I always strove to impress you guys – whether my grades reflected it or not. You both played a significant role in shaping me into the person I am today.
Thank you for all the lessons, both academic and not.
