The Beautiful Wonders of a Foreign Class and Teacher by Glenn

The Beautiful Wonders of a Foreign Class and Teacher by Glenn - March 2013 Scholarship Essay

The most influential teacher I had was Professor Grayson.  Actually he didn’t like being called “professor” at all.  What he wanted was to have a true connection to his students.  He didn’t want to seem as if he was superior to any of us, so he wanted us to call him by his first name—Erik.  Another enigmatic quality about the whole situation was that he taught English; I was a biology major in an apocalyptic literature class.  Although I was out of my element, he truly was the most caring and heartwarming professor I had.  Through discussions of literature, I learned so much about myself and became a more confident person because of him.
            Erik not only showed a passion for literature, but a passion to reach out and learn about each and every student.  My apocalyptic literature class comprised of over sixty students, but during discussions, he made each student say his or her name until he could remember that person.  Not only did he do that, but he walked from side-to-side in the classroom to make eye contact with students, showing that he cared and thoughtfully considered all of our comments.  Though we talked about events in novels, we were able to connect those stories to current events and circumstances occurring in our own personal lives.  One book we read involved splicing together different segments of DNA to recreate animals, and we related that to our current capabilities in the genetics field.  In another book an asteroid decimated the Earth, and we discussed the potential of that occurring in the present time.  But more importantly we talked about characters—their flaws, greatnesses, their humanity.  One of the greatest lessons he taught all of us was that we were all flawed.  No one was perfect; we were human after all.  We were all our own characters in the novel known as our life.  And even though we weren’t perfect, we could dictate and change our own story.  The one thing to get the best out of our own story was by truly accepting ourselves—our blemishes, our imperfections, and accepting them.  That was the way to true happiness and the beautiful ending we all desired.
            Erik was someone that changed me for the better.  Before that class I was a little uptight and insecure.  But his kindness, his sincerity, and his discussions showed me that there was a great- big world out there.  I just had to free myself of the bonds I imposed on myself and accept me for who I was.  I’m so much happier now, and have Erik to thank.  He not only influenced my life, but directly changed my life for the better.