Try to imagine not having someone in your life that has inspired you. Not having someone who has pushed you to be a better version of yourself. Not having someone that opened your eyes to your true potential.
I bet you can’t.
Each and every one of us has come across this person. We may not realize it at the time, but when we do take the time to look back, we realize just how lucky we were to have that kind of person in our lives.
At this time next year, I will be getting ready to graduate (if all goes according to plan). So naturally, the nostalgia has hit me like a freight train. As I reflect on the past three years I have spent in college, I think back to what my 18-year-old self was like: shy, anxious, and afraid to speak my mind. I realize that I would not have been able to successfully get through my college years without that one professor. That one professor who helped me believe in my full potential.
During my first year in college, I rarely spoke up in class. I sat in the back of lectures and I put minimal effort into certain assignments. I figured that this was a normal thing for a college freshman to do, considering I was fresh out of high school and new to this whole “being on my own” thing. My grades reflected on this lack of effort on my part, and being who I was, I was scared to confront and speak with my professors for additional help. Hell, I was even too nervous to write them an email, thinking I wouldn’t know what to say or how to put it into words.
These anxieties of mine followed me up until this year. Because this year, I was fortunate enough to have that one professor. With each week I spent with this professor, she pushed me to do things I didn’t think I would ever do. The one who challenged me to speak up in class every day. The one who took the time to pull me aside and talk to me one-on-one about certain struggles I was facing in the class. The one who made me feel comfortable enough to sit in the second row. But most importantly, the one who opened my eyes on how I can make the most of my college career.
Getting to this point was not easy. I can remember feeling every emotion from embarrassment to anger whenever she would call my name to contribute to a conversation during class discussions.
Why is she only picking on me? Because she cares, that’s why.
I began to realize this professor wasn’t “picking” on me to talk in front of the class. She wasn’t “grading my papers extra hard” just to make me mad. She was helping me to become a better, more successful student.
To this day, I thank her for her constant support and even her constant critiques. If it weren’t for either one of these, I wouldn’t be half the student I am today. I would still be that student sitting in the back of the class, never participating and getting mediocre grades. Instead, I’m sitting here, writing an article about just how much one single person changed the way I view myself as a student, and how I want others to perceive me as a person. And for that, I am forever grateful.
