Growing up in a small town and going to a school with a graduating class of less than 60 people gave me the opportunity to really get to know my teachers. I knew almost every teacher in the school on a personal level. They also got the chance to get to know me and I was lucky enough to have teachers that cared about me outside of the classroom.

There were many times I would complain about having too much homework or the test was too difficult or too long. You would reply by saying that was your job. It was your job to prepare us the best you could for college and you would constantly remind us about how much more difficult college would be and how much more work I would have in my college classes. You also told me that I would be thanking you someday for the long, time-consuming assignments and difficult tests. I never thought that would be possible, but here I am thanking you. I can honestly say that you did your job preparing me for college.

I was nervous starting my college classes. I didn’t really know what to expect. You did your best to talk about what our college classes would be like, but I don’t think there really is any preparing for that next step. There was no way for you to know what my professors would be like in the university and major I chose. You didn’t know what style of citation my professors would want me to use, so you taught me all of them. You gave me packets on packets of the format for each citation, and those are packets that I still use today. I can’t explain the feeling of happiness and relief I felt when my professor told me to write a paper using a certain citation format and I knew exactly what he was talking about.

Along with having a clue on what citation formats are, I don’t get overwhelmed with the amount of homework I am given in my classes either. I still get assigned a lot of homework, but the difference with college is I actually have time to do it. In high school, you would assign me two or three assignments to have done by the next day. I would have to find some time between lifting in the mornings, after school practices, occasional club practices, and getting to bed at a reasonable time. In college, I have about the same workload but more time to do it. I don’t have class from 8 a.m. to 3:20 p.m. every day. I have time between classes to get it done and it usually isn’t due for two days.

How hard you pushed me and how much work you made me do in high school makes college possible. So, I’m sorry for anytime that I ever complained about having too much work or whining about a test being too difficult. A lot of my college friends can’t say that they were prepared like I was for college. Keeping up with homework and managing their time is difficult for them. So, thank you. Thank you for pushing me those four years of high school and thank you for teaching me life long lessons and preparing me for the next four years of my life.