My High School English teacher is someone I will never forget. Besides providing me with a great educational year, he also helped me with a problem that I had never expected to happen. While he seemed a little tough on the exterior, Mr. T never turned anyone away. I learned this the last semester of my senior year.
My best friend was a girl who everyone thought was a genius. She never had to study to maintain her 4.0 GPA. But underneath her honor student facade was a drug user. When I found this out I was absolutely distraught. I had seen many times what drugs can do to people, and I just couldn't bear the idea that this could happen to my friend. She was too smart to go down like that.
I became very worried about her and approached her numerous times on the topic. She would reply that it was no big deal. Finally she began missing classes and looking very downtrodden all the time. Finally I decided that she needed an intervention. Being that I have no experience dealing with these types of things in a personal manner, I went to Mr. T.
He had already known my friend as one of his AP English students. I told him what was going on and asked him what I should do. He told me that I did the right thing by coming to him and that he would take care of it.
I'm not sure how, or whom he contacted, but sure enough I got my friend back. And I always wonder what would have happened to her if we didn't have Mr.T. This type of personal involvement with students made me realize that teaching isn't just about subjects. But about the students learning them. Thank you Mr. T.
-- Stephanie Clark, Florida Atlantic University