This year I’m finding myself to be significantly more motivated in my classes than I was in the past, mostly because the teachers that are teaching me now, I can tell how passionate they are about what they are teaching. For example, my history teacher, she loves history. She breathes it and you can tell when she teaches that this is something that she loves to do. So, when I know that about a teacher, it makes me work hard. I think this is the first time I’ve had an English teacher that I knew loved to read and loved to examine literature. English is probably my favorite subject so to me, that was important. When she speaks, I can tell she’s talking about a book that she admires the author of and she’s done the legwork. It’s not like she’s teaching me something out of a PowerPoint. She’s telling me how she’s feeling about something, which I really, really appreciate, especially as I get older.
Another thing this year, my brother is an elementary school teacher who is a first-year, first-grade teacher. I love seeing how he cares about his students and that’s given me a very different perspective. He thinks about everything and he’s always thinking about his kids. Just hearing him talk about it gives me a lot of respect for what my teachers are doing.
What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving season?
I’m thankful for the environment at this school. I’m thankful that we have the type of environment where students are interested in other students and are interested in what you are doing. I can have a conversation with pretty much anyone in the hallway, which, to me, is important about the environment of a school. It’s the same thing with the teachers and the administrators. At this school, there is this air of approachability. I think that’s important in a school. The purpose of education is supposed to be to raise kids, it’s not so you can pass a class. We’re trying to raise up individuals. I think that the character of a school is more integral to the type of person you become. Because, if I graduate high school with a 2.5 GPA but I’m a hard worker, I’ll do alright. To me, the way a school shapes the character of a student is really important. At Princess Anne, we definitely do that. I do a lot with student government because I want to do whatever we need to do to improve, because I know I want my little sister to come through and have an ever better experience than me.
#WeAreVBSchools
