Sophomore year of high school was one of the worst years of my entire life. The primary reason for my misery, I believed, was the high school I attended—Chaminade High School. Chaminade was a private, Catholic all-boys school, a mixed hotbed of conservatism and fundamentalism. At Chaminade, you were either a Republican or you weren’t allowed to speak of politics. Simply put, it wasn’t the place I wanted to spend the next four years of my life at.
My aversion to my school deeply affected my performance in class. Going into high school, I had always had an A average. This changed greatly after my freshman year. I barely studied or paid attention in class, thinking I was “getting back” at Chaminade. It turned out that I was only hurting myself through my unproductive ways. By the end of freshman year I barely made a C average.
The turning point came halfway through my sophomore year. The only class I could tolerate that year was European History. The main reason for this was Mr. Munnelly, my teacher in this course. Mr. Munnelly saw something in me under my lazy demeanor. He demanded excellence from me in the classroom, and I had no choice but to deliver.
After the first semester’s report card came, he asked me to speak with him. European History was my best class, so I was surprised that he wanted to speak with me. After talking for a while about school and my home life, he asked me why there was such a huge difference between my grades in his class and my grades in all my other classes. Surprised he had even noticed, I couldn’t come up with an answer. We then got to talking about Chaminade and how I was obviously unhappy there. He told me that I could not let that get in the way of academic success and that I should constantly strive to do better in school as well as in life.
I took his words to heart and thought about how I had been acting for the past year and a half. I immediately began to work hard, and the results were visible immediately. My grades went back into the A range, and I joined a variety of different after school clubs. I sit here today at American University on a full tuition scholarship, along with other scholarships that help with the cost of housing. I believe Mr. Munnelly was one of the main reasons for this happening.
Mr. Munnelly saw something in me that other teachers missed. He inspired me to look towards education as a possible future job. Coincidentally, or not, I am currently studying History as my secondary major. Mr. Munnelly changed the course of my entire life. It is because of teachers like him that I believe education is the most noble and worthy profession there is.
-- Ryan Moreno, American University