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My Favorite Teacher By CHRIS PETERSON

MY FAVORITE TEACHER
By Chris Peterson

In 1980, I was an extremely short, fair-haired fourth grader at Johnson Elementary. The year before I had moved to Bryan from Omaha, Nebraska when my Dad accepted a teaching position at Texas A&M. After a year in school, I still was having trouble remembering to say “Yes Ma’m” and the Texas culture was still new. But, that year I met one of the most important people in my life.

Mrs. Kay was a short, dark-haired teacher who loved every student. She was not easy, believed in discipline, and fostered a strong sense of community and a deep love for Texas. She expected a lot from each of us and me in particular. Although I was at or near the top of the class, she pushed me to work even harder, challenging me to read more difficult books that were well above my grade level and do math problems that I did not think had solutions. More importantly, she challenged me to help classmates, serve as a good example to everyone, and be a person of high moral character. To her, these personal goals were every bit as important as the scholastic ones.

I was the shortest person in the class; maybe this is the reason that Mrs. Kay related so well to me. But, she never allowed my stature to be a reason for failure or even embarrassment. She told me almost daily, “Chris, you know that firecrackers come in small packages.” It was this encouragement and the sense of self-confidence that she inspired in me that has allowed me to accomplish my goals.

Mrs. Kay was so important in my personal development that my mother asked Carol Happ, Johnson’s current principal, to make sure that my daughter was placed in Mrs. Kay’s class. The request was slightly unusual since my wife was only six months pregnant at the time. Mrs. Happ agreed, and this year, my daughter Bethany was in Mrs. Kay’s final class of students.

Recently, I attended Mrs. Kay’s retirement party. Probably two hundred folks were there. Scattered in the crowd were grown-up former students that she inspired in the same way that she inspired me. It struck me what a big loss to Johnson her retirement is. I was also struck with a sense of sadness that my son Caleb will not have the pleasure of being her student. But what struck me most is the profound sense of gratitude that I have for Mrs. Kay.

In life, there are certain people that are absolutely seminal in making you the man or woman that you will be. For me, Mrs. Kay was among the handful of people that truly effected who I am today. I know that there are other teachers throughout our local schools who have had similar effects on students. To all of them, I say thank you.