If you ask me the question who's the teacher who made a difference in your life, the answer will be three or may be more than three teachers or professors. Actually I would like to talk about the first one of them, his name was Mario Cayo Sosa Ferreiro and he was my second grade teacher. He taught me how to read, how to write and perhaps one of the most important things he taught me was how to love and appreciate books. Every three months he organized a small party for the students whose birthdays were within that period of time. After the celebration he gave presents to each one of the students. A box of "Carlos Quinto" chocolates and a wonderful book. These books were on different topics from history, biography, science and literature, but always related to our time and age.
I remember reading for the first time "Treasure Island", "Simbad the Sailor", "From Earth to the Moon", "Huckleberry Finn" and more. These books impacted me for life. The passion that I have for reading and buying books is due to professor "Cayito". But I also believe that reading and books is not the only thing I learned to appreciate from him, but also the art of and passion for teaching. Of course he was not a college professor, neither did he write books or was a well known scholar, but in reality he was an expert about how to teach and be a teacher, how to understand human life, how to teach discipline, respect and love between human beings.
If I talk about another inspiring teacher, this is going to be my junior high school teacher, Ariel Aviles Marin. Back in the late 70's during the difficult times of adolescence, Ariel Aviles Marin made a difference to all of us who were his students. "Arielito" as he was known by his students, was and still is the headmaster and professor of literature at the school I attended, "Modelo". Professor Aviles is that kind of person that you can enjoy for hours, listening to his lectures or comments on science, literature, history and more. As I remember back in the spring of 1978, we were learning the great literature of the XIX century and his masters, Victor Hugo, Emil Zola, Leo Tolstoy and others, professor Aviles spent almost six weeks talking every day about one of the master pieces of literature of that time, "Los Miserables" or "Le Miserable". He spent almost two hours every day talking in every little detail about the life of the characters of the novel, the life of the people of France before and after the revolution, the adventures of the hero and the antihero of the novel, the commissioner or police officer. Professor Aviles, with his lectures transported all the class to the days of the French revolution and after the French revolution. He knew how to control, teach and manage his class in all aspects, he made us enjoy and live literature in all aspects. I believe that thanks to him, I learned how to manage a class and provoke curiosity on the part of the students to study the subject or the material they need to acquire.
If I talk or mention a person or professor who changed my life forever, the person is Professor Henry W. McGee and if we talk about and believe in destiny, Professor McGee is going to be part of my destiny. In 1989 when I arrived in the city of Los Angeles, my desire to complete a master’s degree in law took me to Henry McGee. I still remember the first time I met him, on the last day of May 1989, in his office on the second floor of the school of law at UCLA. He was, as always, impeccably dressed in his Italian or French suit and surrounded by his personal mementos, books, diplomas and pictures; when I introduced my self and started talking in English, with my heavy accent in Spanish, for my surprise he immediately started talking to me in Spanish, because he loves Spanish and he likes to practice his Spanish. After that we spend hours talking about Constitutional Law, Environmental Law, International Law and Urban Law, and the differences between the judicial system of the United States and Mexico. Professor McGee, was my guide and mentor during the year and half I spend doing the master’s of law and throughout the next three years I worked under his wing as his assistant for Latin America. Thanks to people like Mario Cayo Sosa Ferreiro, Ariel Aviles Marin and Henry McGee, I understood that teaching is part of my life.
-- Pedro Jose Berzunza, American University