Teacher Appreciations

At first, I didn’t know what to make of Miss Derryl Gray, my English teacher in my junior year of high school. Her teaching persona ranged from unconventionally permissive to strict disciplinarian, and you never knew which one would show up on any given day. My feelings for her ran hot and cold. Winning my heart was the cool hipster lady with the beehive hairdo teaching Bob Dylan lyrics in her poetry class, but who could morph into the old-fashioned prune faced schoolmarm criticizing my unruly

My father was a coach, so I grew up around athletics and was comfortable on the field and court. However, singing in public was way outside of my comfort zone. But somehow, Ms. Jean Johnson convinced me and some fellow athletes to join the school choir. Ms. Johnson was patient, kind, and had a way to get the best from all of us. Over time, Jean transformed our bunch into a pretty darn good high school choir, which did well in competitions. My senior year, Mr. Royal Myers, another talented

I had a tough time in high school. When I was 17 the Viet Nam war was raging and I in turn raged against the war, a rebel with a cause, deeply disturbed by my country’s engagement in that immoral conflict, and it’s shameful willingness to sacrifice the lives of untold thousands of young men because of some specious domino theory. I was battling wars at home as well. My parents had recently discovered I was gay and an atheist, and their conservative Catholic Republican values were severely

Mr. Eernisse was one of the best math teachers. In fact, he was one of the best teachers I ever had in high school, and he was my favorite. He helped me tremendously by encouraging me to stretch my goals. Because of him, I doubled up on math courses (who knew you could do that) and I finished my senior year by getting college credit for calculus. Burnsville High School had a large population of students (approximately 2700), but Mr. Eernisse made sure I was not lost in the crowd and I think he

Ms. Karen Adams was my high school math teacher. I believe I had her for Trigonometry. While I can't remember much about that class from 24 years ago I do remember how Ms. Adams made me feel. She made me feel like I was an important person in her class and at Riverbank High School. She did this by showing interest in my extracurricular activities as well as treating me like a young adult. I always felt like she was speaking to me as a mentor and not speaking down to me. In doing so, she set an

Looking back, I can't believe that Benedetta lent me the school bass and a book to learn over a summer so I could be in jazz band. That simple act of faith in me has led to now decades of playing bass, at churches, night clubs, coffee shops, and enjoying every minute of it. I had the absolute time of my life going to those jazz festivals, enjoying the great music and company of fellow music lovers and it's all thanks to Benedetta. Thanks for being such a great influence and a wonderful teacher!

I’ll never forget when Benedetta approached me after the 5th grade talent show and said she looked forward to having me in band at Sinaloa Middle School the following year! The next 3 years in Concert Band and Jazz Band were life-changing. She inspired me and countless other students to become not only the best musicians we could be, but to strive to be decent humans, too. There are the teachers you remember, the teachers you appreciate, and the teachers that you wanna be like. She’s always been