The Teacher Who Saved Me - Justin Ormsby

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For a time I strongly considered applying for the new Ed.L.D. program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Inspired to change the world, I thought that this new and revolutionary degree program would provide both the education and the contacts I needed to make an impact.  But the Ed.L.D. program prepares the graduate for life in the non-profit and political world and while I'm fascinated by the idea of being the next Secretary of Education (and a good one I'd be thank you very much) I knew that above all else, I was a teacher and I needed to be changing lives from within a classroom.  Nevertheless, I considered the program so strongly that I completed most of the application.  What follows is my short essay on the following question: "What challenges or obstacles have you overcome to get where you are now?"  My response is quite personal, but one I don't mind sharing.  To this day I think I owe much to an amazing teacher who took the time to make sure I was going to make it.  If you have had a teacher like this in the past, take a moment to thank them.  If you are a teacher, then do your best to become like them. 
 
(Reviewed by: Justin Ormsby)  

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In my elementary years I was social, academically successful, and in love with learning.  By sixth grade I had started and edited the first middle school newspaper, had been selected as the captain of the school history team, had joined the math club, was a straight "A" student, and had standardized test scores in the upper 90^th percentile in the state.  The summer before my seventh grade year a devastating family tragedy left me shaken and confused.  At the time I did not think it had affected me, but in hindsight, it completely turned my life around.   In seventh and eighth grade I failed English twice, had become socially withdrawn, and was combative with my teachers.  My interest in school disappeared, my grades plummeted, and my relationship with my mother, who had always been my greatest motivation, became strained. 

            One day my sixth grade English teacher, Mrs. Cummins, pulled me out of class and took me to a quiet room.  After a moment of silence she offered one simple question: “What’s going on?”  Although I didn’t know it at the time, the tears that followed that simple question marked the beginning of a slow but dramatic recovery.  It took several years before I was once again living up to my potential.  The vicious fight against the pain of loss, the feeling of abandonment, and the persistent “what ifs” continued to have a strong affect on my life.  In hindsight, I think I didn’t truly begin to utilize my full academic potential until college, but I can say with certainty that my short but powerful meeting with Mrs. Cummins was a catalyst for a life long change of perspective that would influence my success as well as my choice of career.

            It was shortly after that meeting that it occurred to me that teaching is far more than a job concerned with the transmission of knowledge.  Truly great teachers dedicate their lives to students both during and after their time with them.  They care about them, worry for them, and sacrifice their time, energy, and emotions that their students might grow up fulfilled, happy, and productive.  I remember that meeting daily as I interact with my own students.  In many ways I aspire to greatness in teaching because I am uncertain where I would now be had it not been for the greatness of a teacher.