To be honest, that was one of my favorite congratulations I have ever had, because she understands.
And here's why:
This post is dedicated to the teachers that have inspired me through my life. The sad thing about this post is that probably none of them will read this post or know how much their lessons meant to me.
It all started when I was in second grade and had a wonderful teacher. I was a new student in a new school in a new town, but she was so welcoming. My second grade teacher was like the ones you would see in the movies. The best example I can honestly give is that she had the same temperament as Miss Honey from Matilda. She saw the best in all students and encouraged everyone that they were both creative and smart.
Skipping a few years to junior high, not that I didn't have any good teachers during the time in between but this post is focusing on the ones who had the most influence on me, to my English class. I had always known I had loved reading and digging deeper into books, but I didn't know how much I loved writing until that class. I will admit, at the time I thought keeping a daily journal was honestly annoying, but the more I wrote, the more understanding I had for myself. I also started writing down stories and coming up with different ideas. The best part of being "forced" to write is how I started reflecting on what I was doing in life. My 7th grade English teacher taught us to laugh with books and to form opinions that weren't our parents' opinions. She let us think outside of the box and tried to keep us well-rounded. I honestly can't tell you what books I read in that class or what papers I wrote, because it has been quite a few years since I was 13, but I can tell you that without her encouraging me to write and express myself, I probably wouldn't be writing this blog.
Skipping a few years again to an English teacher I had in high school. I was fortunately able to have her during my sophomore and senior years and I wish I could have her as a professor. I look back on all the random (or what I thought at the time was random, but so inherently deep) projects about King Arther and Greek Mythology and so many other key literary items that if it wasn't for these random projects, I don't think I would enjoy literature as much. She also made us do this project our senior year that was a type of autobiography of our lives. During that point in my life I was so theatre driven and wanted to pursue only that and written in the margins of my life were comments encouraging me to keep going. I don't know if I will ever write a play, but if I do, she will be getting the first ticket since she taught me so much and I was at an age where I couldn't appreciate all the knowledge she wanted to share with us.
Now to my freshman year of college. I had an English professor who totally forced me out of my comfort zone. At that point that I had her, I had already changed my major to marketing and was taking this course just in case I wanted to continue to pursue a degree in English. I ended up continuing my degree in marketing, but her class taught me how to write from the soul. If you look back in the archives of this blog, I had written about a paper that I wrote for her class. The paper was about my grandfather who had died during my senior year. I guess I didn't realize how bitter I was about his passing until I had a meeting with this professor who told me it was okay to cry. Plus now, after my three years of being a business major, I understand the true meaning of Herman Melville's Bartleby, the Scrivener. So thank you for requiring me to read that short story that I was able to relate to my entire last semester. I highly recommend reading that short story!
This is the last teacher I will be writing about. This professor has helped me out in so many ways and I have so much respect for him. My professor for Integrated Marketing Communications and Creative Lab taught me so much about marketing and how it shouldn't have limits; that it shouldn't be so black and white; that it is creative. One thing that I loved about his class is that if you came up with this super crazy idea and showed it to him, he would say that we needed to be prepared to defend it. He also had a favorite question that I forever will cling to, which is the question of "why?" He specifically did this the most during IMC, because we had to create a marketing plan. He never truly questioned my group with what we were doing, but would ask us why we were doing something and it goes back to the point of being able to defend our idea. He didn't want us to simply do something, he wanted us to have an idea of backing it up. The best part about this though, is that he never made you feel stupid. He challenged you, but never put down your intelligence. I remember a time during this past semester when another professor screamed at the work my group turned in calling it horrible work and putting myself and my group down. I will admit that I did cry, but he (IMC and creative lab professor) was there saying that it probably wasn't as bad as we were led on to believe and that we need to move forward. He said that our group now knows what we need to do and that he believed we could do it.
There are many teachers and professors that I have had that were excellent. The ones mentioned are the ones that come to my mind as the ones who truly helped me along the way.
Like I said before, I know none of these people will read this blog post, but I'm putting this out there to show that I am appreciative of them. It is the best way for me to pay homage to them. Because unlike so many other career paths, and quoting from Mr. Mali, they make a damn difference.
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