School is hard and truly isn’t for everyone — especially if you don’t enjoy what you are learning. Luckily for me , through most of my school career up until college, I enjoyed school. But looking back on it, it wasn’t because of what I was learning. I enjoyed seeing my friends, cheering on my football team every Friday night, and all the dances and events that happened throughout my time there. For the most part, I actually hate the learning part. I wasn’t ever going to have to know trigonometry or what two random elements from the periodic table (that I more than likely can’t even pronounce) make when they’re combined. But in the midst of all that, I can remember the select few teachers that stood out to me that made me enjoy class and who made class interesting. These were always the teachers that you can tell tried a little harder when they decorate their classrooms, made their lesson plans a little bit more engaging and actually tried to make a connection with their students.

And to these teachers, I want to say thank you.

I know these teachers made an impact on my life and the majority of people have had the same experience I have had, but it wasn’t until I got to college until I realized how important it was to have these types of teachers in my life.

Going into college, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with my life and what career path I wanted to go down. I changed my major a few too many times because I just couldn’t find my fit. Almost every class I had I dreaded going to and I began hating school. Then, one day, I remember having a conversation with my best friend. She was talking about how much she loved school because she truly enjoyed learning about what she was studying. That hit me hard. I didn’t have that in my life and I wanted it, so a few weeks later I changed my major to for the final time to Art Education.

I was hoping and praying this was the one. It was. And it was all because of one teacher that made me realize how in love I was with this major.

She was my Art History II teacher and she was amazing. The way she taught and engaged with her classroom was something I will never forget. She was always so energetic even when she was having a bad day, she got to know her students and most importantly, she was passionate. You could tell she was in love with what she was teaching, and hearing her talk about her experiences and all the amazing places she had traveled and all the amazing artwork she had seen first hand made it that much better and made me want to learn. Throughout the semester, I would catch myself just spouting out random facts or stories that I had learned from that particular class and I can’t remember the last time I’ve ever done that (if ever). I could feel myself changing in multiple ways because I finally realized I was where I needed to be and could be confident when someone asked me what my major was, and it was all because of one college professor.

So, thank you. Thank you for putting in the extra time and extra effort. Thank you for getting to know me and the rest of your students. Thank you for making me actually want to come to class. Thank you for showing your students how passionate you are about what you do. Most importantly, thank you for teaching me to love to learn again.