A Most Unforgettable Student: Carrie

She had a presence, a maturity, and mannerism that set her apart from other junior high students. Carrie didn’t really look like the image above, but if she dressed up with her sense of humor, she’d appear like this.

Intelligent Carrie, admired by her classmates, often showed insights that could only come from someone much older.

In 6th hour class, as I stood in front talking to everyone, papers from my desk dropped to the floor, scattering. My 20 years experience with 8th graders told me that I’d have to clean them up myself.

What does Carrie do? She gets out of her seat, stoops down and gathers the papers. Handing them to me, she sits down again. Now keep in mind this girl was NOT a brown noser, a kisser upper if I can use that term. She did it because she felt it was the correct action to do. It was almost as if I were in front of a class of adults. One of them would have done what she did.

Keep in mind also the other students didn’t think less of her, and she had a top notch grade so she knew she didn’t have to earn points by helping me. This stood out so strongly in my mind, if I could paint or draw I’d be able to sketch that scene these nearly 40 years later.

Since then I’ve kept in touch with this young lad whose mom was a graceful, classy lady who had a dress store in downtown Wisconsin Rapids, and her dad managed the local Woolco, formerly Woolworth. She earned a teaching degree, taught in a couple states but ended in Houston at a middle school.

She still looks like she did in junior high, bright eyed and a wonderful listener. Also she reads and comments on this blog, for which I’m grateful, so I wonder what she’ll think when she comes home from her day of teaching on this Friday.

Highs and lows, and mediums; that sums up my 35 years in the classroom. Definitely she was one of the highs.