Dear Mr. (Coach) Waters,

Most of high school was hell for me. Balancing a job, AP and Honors classes, a strenuous marching band schedule and my deteriorating mental health at the time turned me into a lifeless corpse.

I have had some awful teachers, whose careless attitudes, mean nature, and downright LAZINESS only made my situation worse. Many teachers have no idea how much of an impact (good or bad) they can make in a child's life...and many of them do not care.

You were different. Your passion for teaching about a subject you loved was not only welcoming, but it was pretty inspiring. You spoke with such enthusiasm and made every single lesson relate to us, the students. I have not met one student who disliked you. Everyone I know has a great time in your classroom. You made economics easy to understand, as well as government and politics fair and equal, teaching us all sides and views.

Not only that, but your laid-back attitude made your classroom a second home to me and a bunch of others. When my classes became too much to handle, I would come to your room to study. I also loved coming in during lunch and just talking about everything and anything. You're an awesome person to vent to, your open ears definitely have saved me from saying some bad things to the wrong people! (Haha!)

Your advice is also golden, your honesty and compassion for your students and their personal problems has helped me tremendously. Many teachers underestimate the problems that their students go through on a daily basis. You cared. Sometimes that's all a student needs to know. You were like a father when mine wasn't there.

From a human to another human...your strength and ability to forgive is so inspiring to me. I can only dream of being as strong as you are! I think it's horrible that bad things happen to good people, especially you. You lost a lot in a short amount of time, and I adore you for being so strong. You've been stepped on by people who thought they were better than you, but you turned the other cheek and forgave them. Life has tried to knock you down but here you are, you did more than get back up, you fought back!

I truly wish your class was longer than one semester. It was the only class I genuinely loved going to. I actually kind of wish you would start teaching at the college in town! But I know that you will continue to walk into other students' lives and transform them like you did with mine. You are the most exemplary teacher I have ever met and I think they should all be as cool as you.

Thank you, Coach H2O's!!!