School appreciation

There is no “best” way to receive an education. Every student learns in a different way and prospers in a different environment. I say that to show that I don’t look down on homeschooling or the recently popular online schooling, but I definitely learned many lessons from my public school education.

I went to seven different schools before college. I didn’t change schools because of problems or because it just didn’t fit my needs. My family moved a lot and it forced me to experience a lot of new things; particularly new schools, new teachers and new classmates.

Being the new kid at school taught me a lot of lessons, but some of the main things I took from each of my schools were the experiences I had with my teachers and those around me.

In third grade I had a teacher who instilled in me the use of “me” and “I.” Her name was Mrs. Markiewicz and she made us learn how to spell her name the first week as part of a spelling test. After finishing our multiplications tests, Mrs. Markiewicz threw us an ice cream sundae party. On the day of the party, I was sick and didn’t come to school. I came back the next day, upset that I missed ice cream but Mrs. Markiewicz came with me to lunch and bought me ice cream from the cafeteria to make up for it. Not every teacher would do that for his or her students.

Junior high in Alaska started at seventh grade. The kids who lived on base had our own bus to get to and from school and our bus driver’s name was John. John enjoyed his job and it was evident by the way he interacted with us students. I don’t know many people who can stand to be around a group of rowdy middle schoolers, but John had fun with it. He took us on different routes through downtown Anchorage and sometimes took us up a big hill and took off the brakes so we rolled down a few feet. At the end of the year, he bought us lunch. John loved his job and never let it bring him down.

In high school, my second high school, I started off with a terrible English teacher. But she pushed me to do difficult work. Senior year, I chose another English teacher and fell more in love with English than I already was. Mrs. Switz helped me to grow in my writing and encouraged me to keep working and improving. Because of her, I was named English Student of the Year. Mrs. Switz loved what she did and loved her students.

A public school education may not be for everyone, but I would not have all the experiences and opportunities that I do if I hadn’t had one.

So no matter in what capacity you earned your education, thank those who gave it to you, whether it was a number of special teachers, your mother or even someone on the other side of the computer screen. Those people got you to where you are today.

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