World Teacher's Day

"5 October is a day to celebrate teachers and the central role they play in guiding children, youths & adults through the life-long learning process."  Teachers have played a huge role in my life, for the past twenty years.

Marilee Ragland, my 2nd grade teacher-- I remember doing more art in her class than math or reading, but I loved it.  We worked with clay... (I made a turtle)... we drew upside-down... made hats for Easter that had rabbit ears...

Ms. Welte, my 3rd grade teacher-- I started wanting to become a teacher because of Mrs. Welte.  I remember measuring out the size of whales on the basketball court.

Kasey Jonesrebandt, my junior high choir teacher-- I loved Mrs. J!  She gave me a lot of responsibility and helped me reach my potential as a leader in the classroom.

Margaret Higashida, my junior high computer science teacher-- She really let me be creative, which is something I really needed in junior high.

David Thuleen, my high school physics teacher-- His classes were so fun!  We got to drop things and throw things and build things, and everything involved stick figures.

Mr. Raymond, my senior English teacher-- I really learned how to write well in this class.   I owe him a lot.

Kelley Bell, my high school choir teacher-- I loved Mrs. Bell, too!  Again, I was really given responsibility and so many opportunities!

And many of my professors in college: 

Matthew Estes, history-- I learned to appreciate history, even if I still don't like it.

Jocelyn Ahlers, linguistics-- The professor who introduced me to my passion: linguistics!  This professor continues to inspire me and has really been there for me.

Jule Gomez de Garcia, linguistics-- Another ling professor, this one has gotten me into a fieldwork project and let me adopt it as my own.

So thank you to all of these teachers and all they have done for me!