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Originally Posted by redwitch
Mine was Mr. Hetrick, my history teacher in 7th and 10th grades. I was always the odd man out. We traveled so much when I was younger that it made me gunshy about making friends. Acquaintances I had by the dozen but very few I would call friends (still that way, sadly). Most of the kids in my school had both parents. My dad was dead. We went from upper middle class to below poverty. These were all factors that made it hard for me to feel like I fit anywhere.
To make matters worse, I questioned everything. I wasn't trying to show off or harass the teacher and class, I honestly wanted to know the whys. I didn't care about dates. I didn't care about who did what to whom. I wanted to know WHY. I was constantly going, but in Japan, we learned ... in Germany, they said ...; the French don't believe that; and so on. It did not make me very popular with my teachers or my classmates who just wanted to get on with it.
Mr. Hetrick not only let me ask, he actually answered! He let me know it was okay to question. If he didn't know the answer, he told me to do the research and let him know. He encouraged me to audit classes at the local JC, helped me get out of classes so I could do this. If I started to stray from my goal of college, he would march me into his classroom and guide, push and downright shove me into doing the necessary. I probably would have dropped out of high school if not for him -- either due to boredom or frustration. He made sure that didn't happen. He appreciated me for me and taught me that it was really okay to be different, that people would accept me for myself if I gave them a chance.
When I got married, I went back to my high school in the hopes Mr. H would still be around. He was. He walked me down the aisle. I was so lucky and happy to have this wonderful man be part of my life. So, once again, I thank you Mr. H. You are part of what I am.
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What great story, Red.
I can't remember the name of my teacher, but I had a phys ed teacher in college who nurtured me. On the first day of class, she instructed the class to run around the track. I took off like a jack rabbit,and was ahead by about 1/2 the length of the track. She tried to get me to go out for the track team, which I didn't have time for, but she also lent me some of her books on running which piqued my interest in phyical fitness. Since then I have always been somewhat of a fitness buff thanks to her encouragement.