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Happy National Teachers Day! Today, October 5, we are celebrating all the teachers that dedicate their lives to making an impact on students in and beyond the classroom. We are defining a teacher as anyone who does the act of teaching. It can be a tutor, professor, a TA in an undergraduate class, a coach or anyone who has taught you a little something that you will carry for the rest of your life.
Chris Tsoumou, who is a second year student studying health and human sciences, says she has always had an appreciation for teachers who do more than expected, like one of her high school teachers.
Chris Tsoumou: “I think I appreciate teachers that go above and beyond the classroom to really be there for their students. So like I am also a first generation college student and I had a teacher my senior year of high school. She taught English and I really appreciated how, you know, I don’t think my high school’s like it was in a top school. I would say like the education wasn’t really good.”
Despite the adversity that Chris faced in high school, she found solace in her teacher who pushed her to achieve more beyond her means.
Chris Tsoumou: “But during like college application season, she saw how I went out of my way to like apply to like top schools and like really work hard to get into the school that I wanted to. Like she took her time outside of the class to help write letters of recommendation and like read over my essays and stuff like that. So I really appreciate her for that.”
Spike Fu, a senior studying computer science games, says the inspiration her teacher has instilled her has stuck with her all the way from China to Los Angeles.
Spike Fu: “So I am very inspired by teachers I had in China. Those English teachers were especially, that encouraged me to be here to push me to be in United States, because when I was a kid, it really wasn’t a big thing for students to go abroad. Especially for me as a girl, I wanted to study computer science.”
Without a doubt, a teacher’s influence blooms in everyday life.
For Annenberg Media, I am Mariela Gomez.