I think it's absolutely fair to say that regardless of how much we find our homework and tests unbearable, it's teachers that bring some element of life to our classes. We may not always agree with them, but the fact that they've dedicated their time to teaching future generations about what they love says more about them and their crafts than nightly worksheets do.

I'm almost done with junior year, so I'll be applying to colleges soon. This has thus prompted me to become overly self-reflective about how I've spent the last three years of my life, how I've spent the last few years of my life as a high schooler.

Am I happy with how I've done? Sure, why wouldn't I be?

But am I happy with everything I've done up to this point?

Maybe rather than saying I'm unhappy about something I've done, I'm just unhappy about something I haven't done yet. I haven't told my teachers how much they have helped me become the person I am today.

I don't know if they know anything about me (outside of the fact that I've taken classes of theirs), so maybe they don't know that I write on Odyssey or that I like to sing. Miscellaneous things that people just happen to know. But that shouldn't excuse the fact that what they may not know about me is how grateful I am to have been taught by them.

I want to take the final three weeks of high school to give my teachers thank you letters because I think they deserve to know that they make a huge impact on their students' lives. It's a really small gesture that obviously can't parallel spending nine months imparting knowledge to hundreds of teenagers, but hopefully it puts into perspective the value of everything they do.

Teaching is an extremely difficult profession that comes with loads of work and responsibility, and it's safe to assume that teachers are like superheroes. They simultaneously grade papers upon papers yet arrive with smiles on their faces, ready to listen to their students with open ears. They're always here to support us, no matter how little we realize that.

"Knowledge is power," people say.

Knowledge, in my opinion, is one of the most powerful concepts in the world, and to share one's knowledge is one of the most powerful actions a person can take.

I want to thank my World History teacher for always being happy to help me even when I had extreme difficulty understanding the material.

I want to thank my Calculus teacher for being so patient with her students when Calculus began to feel unconquerable.

I want to thank my Computer Science teacher for starting every single class with so much enthusiasm.

I want to thank each of my teachers for a different reason, and the best way to do so is to explain to them why they have made their class so impactful.