I know that it can't be easy. You have who knows how many students, hundreds of papers, projects and tests to grade, projects to assign, lesson plans to write, yet you still took the time to get to know all of us. You poured your heart and soul into each class, each lesson, and did your best to teach us, as well as keeping us invested in our studies. Being a teacher is one of the most difficult things to be. I am sure you would go home each night exhausted and hoping you inspired or got through to even one of us. Good news! You did.

I know I couldn't have been an easy student to have. I would get distracted easily, goof around with friends, and constantly wonder and have concerns about my grades and what I needed to do to improve. I was stubborn, annoying, and down right crazy. But you overlooked that, took me under your wing, and helped me grow into the student and the person you knew I could be. You are a major part of why I am who I am. As both a student and a person.

For many people, high school was far from easy. We had classes, clubs, family, friends and your mindset to balance; and all that can really stress a teenager out. I was frustrated, tired, cranky and talkative, yet you took the time to get to know me and figure out how I learn and what makes me want to learn. Teachers, especially if they have been teaching for a while will begin to experience burnout. Each year, their classes will begin to feel the same, the students begin to look and act all the same, and the grading of their assignments will begin to get tiresome and tedious. And I thank the good Lord above that you were not one of them. Each year you were creative, new, refreshing, excited, and extremely eager to teach and educated brand new students. Those teachers are the kinds of teachers that we not just want to have, but the kind that we need in our schools. We need more teachers like you.

Many will take teachers and their patience for granite. They don't get paid nearly as much as they should, they spend hours every night grading and completing lesson plans, all in addition to having their own families to take care of and spend time with. They constantly take their work home with them, and for what? To wonder if they're good at their job? To lose hours of sleep each week? Or to just slowly have their passion for their job fade away? I have seen those teachers. I have had those teachers. But it was teachers like you who made me forget who I was, and proved to me that I could do more, be more, and achieve more. You will always have a special place in my heart. And I hope you know just how much you mean to your students. Both past and present.