Tribute to a Student

When my children were growing up, I loved being their teacher. I taught reading and writing and coloring and finger painting. I planned each lesson with care, and it gave me such joy to see my children learn. There were field trips and sporting events. My teaching didn’t stop when they reached school age. I became a parent volunteer in their elementary school, and ultimately I was called to teaching as a profession.

Just as certain teachers touched my children’s lives during their schooling, so have some special students in my classes touched my life. One of those students came to my French class as a freshman, eager to learn and quite enthusiastic about it. She grasped the concepts of the French language so quickly that I accelerated her through two levels in one semester. Katie was like a sponge! Often after class, she would share with me about the connections she had made from her French class to her other classes. We’d talk about the derivation of certain words, about French painters and architects, and we shared our thoughts about all sorts of things; especially our favorite, Marie Antoinette.

In the summer after her freshman year, Katie was able to join me on a student trip to France and Italy. One of the highlights of the trip for me was watching Katie; her reactions to various pieces of art in the museums we had visited, her joy at seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time, and her pride in being able to communicate in French. I watched as Katie was transformed into a young woman; her confidence in handling being lost in Paris and her pride as she navigated herself and her group back to our meeting place. She was growing up right in front of my eyes.

When we returned to school that fall, I watched as Katie became a campus leader. She took leadership roles in several school activities and she even served as our French Club vice-president. Katie continued her studies of French and developed a special fondness for “The Little Prince.” Both Katie and I were elated when she was able to travel to Europe for a second time with me in the summer of 2009. This time, however, Katie was a teacher. She shared with the other students her experiences and the lessons she had learned. In the museums, she shared her knowledge of art and history. Katie had indeed grown up.

I didn’t see much of Katie during her senior year. She was pursuing other areas of interest and French didn’t fit into the schedule. She did, however, serve as our French Club president. She would stop by my room and we’d discuss various literary works being studied in her Advanced Placement literature course. She shared with me some of her work in photography. Often during these visits we would reminisce about our trips to Europe and she’d tell me about her hopes of studying abroad when she gets to college.

Katie will graduate from Catoctin High school this year. In the fall, she will be off to college to study wonderful and amazing things. You can see it in her eyes when she talks about her future. I feel truly blessed to have been a part of this amazing young woman’s life. Her enthusiasm and her burning desire to learn will take her far. I’m envious of the faculty at Washington College for they get to spend the next four years with her. Antoine de Saint Exupery wrote in his work The Little Prince that “you risk tears if you let yourself be tamed.” That about sums it up when I consider how I have come to feel about my students over the years. Katie would understand.