Dear Teachers (Past, Present, and Future),

I would like to begin by thanking you, so, thank you, thank you for everything. When thinking about who has shaped our lives most, our minds often drift to family and friends: how our parents raised us, how our grandparents helped form our values, how our siblings tested our patience, and how our friends helped to form our personalities. What many of us do not recognize is the incredible role you, our teachers, played in making us who we are, and showing us who we want to be. Since a young age, I have had a unique appreciation for teachers and education, one that I generally do not sense in many of my peers. You all are certainly the unspoken heroes, typically not looking for an ounce of recognition for your wonderful acts. We openly show our family members and friends our appreciation, we thank Mom and Dad when we graduate and we pose in photos with our friends wearing our caps and gowns on a day that is arguably one of our greatest accomplishments. For all of our accomplishments we do this, we think about who and what we needed to get there, and we show appreciation where necessary. However, we often do not trace our greatest successes back to you, our teachers, but here's the thing, we should.

When I got accepted to the University of Illinois last December, I immediately thanked everybody who got me there. I thanked my parents, texted all of my friends, FaceTimed my boyfriend, and wrote to family members; nearly everybody who helped me get to this day was contacted and given thanks for their support, guidance, and love. Yet, it was not until I got on my email that night that the most important thank you notes were sent. I emailed you, my teachers, to thank you for getting me there, for making me the person I am today, and showing me the person I want to become: a teacher, just like you. A teacher who cares about her students unconditionally, and would do absolutely anything for them, just like you did for me. You showed me my way, and for that, I am forever grateful.

All of the major accomplishments in my life, from graduations, to college admissions, to deciding my future career path, are because of you. You inspired me to find my greatest passion in life, becoming an educator, and I hope to instill that inspiration in my future students. You showed me the value of a classroom, and how important education is. Because of you, I have never wasted a second being dismissive of the education I am so lucky to have. While I will admit there were one or two days I shunned my alarm in the morning, there was never a moment I was not grateful for the incredible education that I have been so fortunate to receive. And now, even more so, I am so grateful for you for teaching me this gratitude.

As I continue to study to become a teacher, I will never forget the things that I learned inside your classroom. To value each individual student, to be accommodating and understanding, and to make my classroom a second home, like all of yours were for me. I hope to form the relationships with my students like you formed with me, and I hope that my future students can feel the same love and care emanating from me that I did from you. I hope that when my students are grown, they will look back and think of me, just as I am always thinking of you. With every good grade, accomplishment, and momentous occasion I think of you, and I thank you, because without you, I would not be me. You gave me all of these gifts, and I hope to give my students the same. I truly cannot thank you enough, and am overcome with appreciation for you, today, and everyday.

All of my love,

Your student, Eliza Cadkin