An Incredible Gift

There are days (and even weeks) when being a high school teacher is the last thing in the world that I want to be. I long for the days when I worked with corporations and actively practiced my engineering. I want to go back to the time when the hardest thing I had to do was determine if I was under budget or not. I get tired of fighting with high school students about doing their homework, turning in work, focusing on the lesson, and reaching for higher goals then they have set for themselves. There are days that I feel as if I don't make a difference and I wonder why I'm there.

December 19th started out as a normal day, one that represented the last day of school before the winter break. At the end of the day, each of our specialty areas held small holiday celebrations. I always dread this celebration because I am responsible for monitoring 60+ kids with holiday spirit for about 40 minutes. It's stressful and I'm always glad for it to be over. But, this year was different.

This year, toward the end of the celebration, different students from around the building just started showing up. I am the senior class sponsor, but there were kids from every grade level. Before I knew it there were at least 100 kids in the cafeteria with us. Of course, I'm puzzled and trying to analyze what's going on. Then, one of my kids starts walking toward me with a box. At first, I was confused. Then, I took a look at what that box held. It was a Nikon D40 camera. I immediately started tearing up, because I realized that my kids had chipped in and bought me the one gift that I had wanted to get for myself but was unable to because my car had died recently.

The kids had made a card out of poster board and everyone had signed it. There were 100+ names on this card. I couldn't believe that these kids had done this for me. The funny thing was that it wasn't the camera that brought this much emotion. It was the realization that maybe I do make a difference. Maybe I do have an impact on these kids. Those kids took all of the anger and frustration I was feeling and turned it into something so positive. That card and that camera represent so much more than just a Christmas gift. They represent the encouragement and support I needed to continue this school year. I will never forget this day and I will draw on that energy each time I feel as if I want to throw in the towel. I will never forget the incredible gift that was given to me this year.