Thank You to My Teachers

With the End of another school year it got me thinking about some of my teachers when I was in school.

Mr. Campbell was my World History and Economics teacher. He liked to play the devils advocate to invoke thought and emotion into a subject. I remember him once turning our class into a totalitarianism society. He would punish us with extra homework for talking out of turn or not answering a question correctly. The next day I lead a revolt and had the students sign a Declaration of Independence. It worked.

Mrs. Paffenburger was my World Geography teacher. I learned so much about Islam and the Middle East. I also appreciated that she had a soldier from Desert Storm come to our class to show us what he worn in the desert and talk to us about what he was doing.

Mr. Wellman was my Journalism teacher. It was Mr. Wellman that figured out that had a learning disability. He took the time to talk with me about my problems with spelling and reading. He also helped me with getting tested for my learning disabilities.

Mr. Russell was my U.S. History teacher. When I had knee surgery I had to walk with crutches. While I could leave my classes early to get to my next class on time, the class before his was my geometry class. I was having trouble in that class and didn’t want to leave early. Mr. Russell would wait to start class until I could make it. He would say as I walked down the hallway, “Here comes Chuck, step drag, step drag.”

Mr. Martin was my Biology teacher. He was truly excited about teaching and enjoyed each moment. Even to this day when he sees me he says, “The man with the plan,” which was my campaign slogan when I ran for Junior Class President.

Coach Gobert was my Health teacher and football coach. He led our football team with class and integrity. He taught our health class with humor and stories about his life. He was passionate about being a teacher and a coach.

Coach King was my offensive line football coach. Coach King challenged me to be my very best and never accepted anything less than 100% effort. People think Coach Bobby Knight was tough, but he was nothing compared to Coach King. And I’m thankful for how tough he was, because it helped me be the man I am.

Coach Perkinson was my wrestling coach. He was soft spoken, but tough. Even though I had a lot less talent than most others, he always got the very best from me. I remember that instead of yelling at you when you were not doing something right, he would instead just use you to show how to do a certain move correctly. He was a lot stronger than you would think.

Mr. Powell was my Vice-Principal. He was also the person who oversaw the student council when I was the Junior Class President. He helped and encouraged me to be a leader and a person to respect.

Mr. Major was my councilor. He also looked out for me and always tried to find ways to help me to be better. He sent me to the American Red Cross Leadership Camp and he always signed my student driver discount voucher even when I might only have a B average instead of the B+ I needed. He knew I was always giving my best.

Mr. Greenlee was my 8th grade American History teacher. I loved his grading system that if you could get 50%, then you passed. He would say that if you could remember at least half of what he says then that was good enough. I think I got a 104% in his class.

Ms. East was my 6th grade teacher. She had a great reward system for grades and good behavior. We earned credits to buy candy and other fun stuff. It encouraged you that hard work would be rewarded. She also allowed us to choose are own spelling words. This challenged us to learn how to spell words that we never thought we could.

Ms. Curry was my 1st and 3rd grade teacher. I had always been a good student and a good kid, but during the last 9 weeks of my 3rd grade year I got a little attitude. Ms. Curry called me out and said I was not acting like the Chuck she knew. It worked and I worked a lot harder to act a lot better.

Ms. Eriksenson was my kindergarten teacher. All I can say is that she was just as sweet as apple pie.

While I’m sure there are others I hope you all know how much I appreciated everything you have done for me.