When students graduate they always say, "Miss Call, I'll come back and visit you." I respond with, "I would love to see your face again but even if I don't, go and do something great!" (or something along those lines....)
Students do randomly show up and usually it's the ones that you least expect to see. Anyway on Monday a student who I honestly did not think would actually graduate from high school, stopped by my room to say hi and to tell me that he is enrolled at Butler with hopes of going to K-State in a year. He wanted me to know that he is ready to do something great with his life. Hearing that he was considering K-State made my heart smile but more so than that, hearing his excitement about school and hearing him realize that he needed to start making better decisions if he wanted to turn his life around, was pretty special. Seeing him in a place where he is thriving reminds me of why it is that I do what I do and why it is that I really do love my job.
Then yesterday a student who graduated two years ago stopped by my room in his army garb. He stopped by to say Hi, to say thanks, and to tell me that he will be leaving Wichita this weekend for a while. He is being stationed at Fort Bragg next week and is being deployed to Iraq in 6 months. The reality that my students grow up and do go out there and do great things was staring me in the face. I didn't know how to respond, part of me wanted to cry and the other part of me stood there so proud of the fact that this young man who is going off to serve our country did sit in my classroom and I am a better person, a better teacher because of students like him.
When I forget why it is that I do what I do and why it is that I love my job so much, I get these reminders that blow me away.
