Everyone finds a favorite teacher at some point in their educational career, and it's not always the teacher that doesn't count your tardies or gives completion grades for everything. Sometimes you find a teacher that you really connect with, and they teach you about more than math or English, they teach you about life.

For me, that teacher was my Tech Com teacher Mr. Gloff. He is one of the best people that you could ever hope to meet. As a teacher, he would take extra time to make sure that you understood the lesson and he would do everything in his power to help you pass the class. He genuinely wanted you to pass, not for his paycheck, but for you.

Mr. Gloff also made the classroom interesting. He wasn't one of those teachers that just stood up front and lectured, he would get you involved, show you video clips and have you do projects. He never belittled a student or made them feel stupid for asking a question. Sure, sometimes he would tease you, but he never went too far. He would just play around with you.

But he isn't just a great teacher, he is also an amazing person. You could go to him for anything, and he would listen to you. I had the privilege of being his student for almost three years, and in those three years, he never ignored me when I needed to talk to him about something. It didn't matter how simple or how serious the problem was, he always made time for you.

My second year with Mr. Gloff was when I realized how lucky I was to have him as a teacher. Halfway through the school year, my depression got the worst of me and I ended up in the hospital for two weeks. During those two weeks, Mr. Gloff emailed me to make sure I was OK and to find out exactly what was going on. He also made sure coming back to school wasn't hell. When I finally went back, I started to talk to him more. He became more aware of the situation I was in, and his classroom became a safe place for me.

I honestly do not think that Mr. Gloff knows about the impact he made in my life. He is what's teacher should be, not just someone who teaches you about verbs or the what the slope of a line is, but someone who you can talk to when you don't know where else to go. A teacher should be someone who really does care about their students. Chris Gloff is the perfect example of what kind of person should be a teacher. During your time throughout school, I really hope you find your favorite teacher.