“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
– Maya Angelou
Picture this: a small Catholic school in the southeast. The year was 2009. Plaid skirts and tan suede bucks only – no nail polish, no hair accessories, no jewelry allowed. White cinder block walls and blue and white checkered linoleum floors. A crucifix and a clock in every room.
Eighth grade: our ‘worlds’ were extremely small, but Ms. R, within the confines of her classroom, made the world and us so much bigger.
She was a real one. No B.S. We were always excited for her class and her curriculum was amazing. We would get blank maps of Europe and Africa and have to memorize the countries. Have you seen the video clips these days of people interviewing teenagers on the street and asking them how many continents there are or where countries are located? Yeah, it’s bad. She probably pushed the envelope at times with some of the things we got to learn about, like watching wild documentaries about Ancient Egypt and Otzi the Iceman. I would have never known there was an entire planet out there without her class.
A handful of other teachers still treated us like young children or were somewhat dismissive, but she always made us feel heard and seen. She got on our level and was super approachable, fair, and honest. She really had a way of bringing us all together – a ‘no time for that’ attitude about any of us not getting along. Also, we had so. Much. Fun.
One day while we were all doing worksheets, a classmate started quietly humming the melody to a Lil Wayne song that had recently dropped – (which song you may ask? Ok, twist my arm, I’ll tell you – it was “Mrs. Officer”). She turned her head around so fast, cocked an eyebrow and said “Uh uh. No.” You should have seen his face! He got real pale and stammered “W-what? You know that song?!” We all looked around the classroom at each other smiling and nodding. Ms. R knew at least one Lil Wayne song. Pretty cool.
In 2008, Facebook surpassed Myspace as the most-visited social media website. Another classmate went snooping and dug up her (private) Facebook page. He saw a picture where (God forbid) she, a grown adult, was holding a beer. Being we were all 13 years old, we were scandalized! Ms. R has had at least one beer before. Pretty cool.
She was incredibly beautiful with dark, super curly hair and was extremely passionate about fitness and healthy eating. Sometimes we roasted her for how healthy she ate. Our snacktime picks included Cheetos and Scooby Doo gummies, whereas hers were carrots, celery, and apples.
What stands out the most and what has stayed with me the longest was January 20, 2009 – the day of the Obama inauguration. It wasn’t like these days when Gen Z is completely politically mobilized. Compared to the middle schoolers of today, we were very naive when it came to politics. Too young to really remember Bill, the George W. era was all we knew. We had sat criss-cross applesauce on the floor in the Kindergarten pod down the hall and watched 9/11 on TV at just six years old. We didn’t know what a change in president and party meant. We felt confused and distracted – you know the feeling when you see the latest headlines spun by various media outlets. We heard and saw things from parents, peers, TV, and the news.
She saw how confused we were and wasn’t having any of it. When we finally made it to her class that afternoon, she didn’t jump right into the lesson. Instead, she pulled a chair up to the front of the classroom, sat down, cracked open a Bible, and read to us. It was Matthew 22:36-40: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
In a time when we were naive and vulnerable, she armed us with scripture and reminded us of what was really important. Love. It didn’t matter if someone’s parent, another teacher, or another student agreed or disagreed with you on a topic. You were to love them. The world could really use some Ms. R right now.
The impact she had on me, on all of us, was massive. Honesty, kindness, empathy, understanding, compassion, unity, culture, friendship, fun, being a global citizen, not using ignorance as an excuse – all things that remind me of Ms. R. She’s probably my favorite teacher I’ve ever had. She was one of my first true real (real-life) role models. Having a woman like her to look up to as a teenage girl meant everything to me.
It’s why I decided to share this.
Write a Love Letter to your Educator. I triple dog dare you.
Claire Writes 
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