A Note by Elaine

A Note by Elaine - June 2019 Scholarship Essay

Ever since middle school I’ve had a favorite teacher each year so when I read this prompt I had the pleasant problem of trying to figure out which one out shined them all; it took me no more than a few moments to decide on Miss H.
My seventh and eighth grade science teacher was a character alright, I think science teachers always are, but I doubt I’ll ever meet anyone like her again. Miss H left no room for doubt that she cared about each and every one of her students. In eighth grade especially, we seemed to hardly ever do anything ‘sciency’ or considered ‘educational’ in the traditional classroom. Half the time we were doing team building activities such as getting from one side of the class to the other over a rope without assistance from any furniture or touching it - we had only each other - some were tall enough to just jump or step over the rope so they volunteered themselves as step stools for the rest of us; two knelt on each side of the rope and supported each of us over the side, after we’d all crossed the last two jumped over. We probably spent a week doing that and over the year we did many other such activities. She was always encouraging us and many days were dedicated to reflection and I guess what you would call philosophy, but so down-to-earth that I hesitate to call it philosophy; I think we all, including Miss H, discovered a lot about ourselves.
When the science SBA came around many of us admitted the concern that we didn’t think we were prepared for it, but we said it with giggles because we knew that we wouldn’t have traded any of those ‘not-science’ days for anything, we didn’t care what the state said about what we’d learned in science because we knew that we’d learned much more important things about ourselves and each other. Turns out that we all passed without a problem and I can’t speak for the whole class but I know many of us scored much higher than other classes.
At the end of seventh grade she wrote each of us a note and gave it to us on the last day of school. The note always had a positive message personalized for each of us about what she’s seen in us over the year and it was extremely touching. Eighth grade was different though, she had us write notes to each other this time, she didn’t want us to say anything we were uncomfortable with so we didn’t have to write one for everybody but she encouraged us to write as many as we could. Then, instead of a note, in the last week of school she stood in the center of the 'U' our desks formed and in front of the class, spoke to each of us personally, in addition to which she also wrote a note. Lots of us cried when we heard her message to us. I will never forget that in one of the notes my classmates wrote me she said that she admired me so much that she wanted to be like me when she grew up… I still cry when I think about it, I hardly even knew the girl, but she had admired me from afar and I never would have known about it without the note.
High school is more difficult and with my workaholic tendencies I often get overwhelmed so when it gets especially rough I pull out the big orange envelope with all of the notes, some are more thoughtful than others, some make me cry, some make me laugh, but they all make me feel better and without them I’m not sure I could’ve gotten through school because as wonderful as my friends and family are there are some things they just aren’t equipped to help me with but these heartfelt notes always are, they always bolster my confidence and remind me that I am not what an assignment might make me look like, I am not defined by the quality of my work or my grade.
Miss H taught me that you can know that your family loves you and your friends care about you but most of the time you don’t know what it is that they admire in you, you don’t know what your acquaintances are afraid to say or ask. A note can work wonders for bringing you closer to someone and encouraging them to embrace their better qualities. Miss H taught me that in this vast world of uncertainties my comfort zone is nothing but a little dot and if I am always comfortable I’ll never do any of those things outside my tiny little space, but taking a chance and stepping out of my comfort zone a little bit each day will make my circle bigger and bigger until there’s nothing I can’t do; even if stepping out of my dot is as simple as writing my friend a note.