My parents and I recently had dinner, talking about old teachers we had growing up in elementary, middle, high school, and college. We talked mostly about the great ones and how they inspired us and we laughed about the awful ones we used to make fun of or get a riot out of with our friends in class. The truth is that I had my fair share of good and bad teachers when I was in school, but the great ones were the ones who inspired me to keep running after my craft and wouldn’t let me settle. The great teachers are the ones who pushed me and my classmates, maybe gave a little too much homework, but always let us know that they were there if we needed them.

I have a lot of friends who are in the profession of teaching now. Some are just beginning while some have a year or two under their belts. For some, it might be harder than they anticipated and for others, it may be the dream come true that they always anticipated. Some of my friends may find themselves in the middle of the road, somewhere between “I-love-my-job” and “Get-me-out-of-here.” If you find yourself anywhere on that spectrum, but closer to the latter, don’t give up, you have no idea who you will inspire with your kind words — and even if it is just one student, one can and always will create a ripple effect you may never be aware of.

Teachers are really good people. They invest most of their lives into teaching the next generation, but also inspiring them. Aside from parents, teachers are the people who can leave the most impact on a child or teenager. Teachers are the people inspiring students to keep learning and seeking after something greater than just themselves, to keep them moving toward a dream that could impact not only their close circle of friends, but also the world.

I’ve been told that I have a teachable spirit and that is something I don’t take lightly, but my teachers growing up are the people I have to thank for inspiring me to keep learning. The great teachers in my life gave me time when I asked for feedback on auditions in high school theatre. My favorite teachers gave me time to create a voice and a blank space, page, or stage to share it on, always giving me ways to improve and experiment when I wanted to take those creative steps forward.

This article is for them, the teachers that never told me to stop learning. The ones who never gave up on me and challenged me to keep going. The ones who told me that they’d be looking for my name on the cover of a book someday. The ones that saw beyond my failure on paper and saw something more. This is a shoutout to the real hero’s, the ones that don’t get enough recognition.

Thank You for believing in me. Thank You for believing in my writing. Thank You for seeing something in me that I wasn’t sure I could ever see in myself during the time that I was in school. Thank You for pushing me to do better and be better, not only in academics, but in life. Thank You for continuing to teach and thank you for the service you give to the generations behind me.

To all my friends who are teachers: Thank You for believing in your students. Thank You for seeing something in your students that they may not see for years to come, keep telling them how awesome they are, it does stick. Thank You for never settling and always setting that bar higher because you know what your students are capable of. Thank You for your service to the next generation — don’t give up because you are a product of good teachers that once inspired you.

Being a teacher is all about making one student believe that his or her craft matters. My best teachers told me my writing mattered. But even beyond all of that, they told me that I — Ashley Cook, the person — mattered. That’s something I have never forgotten and it’s an inspiring weight that I carry with me, even now.

I think teachers do it best, but we all have something that can inspire the people around us to step into greatness. The question is whether or not we will do something about the greatness we carry like teachers do every day in their classrooms.