By: Yessi Galvan

When we think about the people in our lives who we plan to remember forever, for the most part we wouldn’t even think twice about cherishing the memories with our teachers in high school. Why is it that we feel this way when the teachers in our lives have contributed an enormous amount of knowledge to our lives?

One of the biggest tips I can give students is that it is always beneficial to have a teacher on your side and create a good relationship with them so that they can give you the right encouragement. What stuns me the most is that the relationship you build with your instructors can not only make you a better student and potentially lead you to what you want to do with the rest of your life, but also help the teacher get a better understanding of how to effectively teach.

One great example of this is a Southeast alumni, Ben Herbel. Ben graduated from Southeast in 2015 and is already taking the steps to become a high school social studies teacher.

“Ever since I was young I have always liked teaching people that are younger than me,” said Herbel. “Plus, I have always liked going to museums and learning history.”

Although Herbel seems to know what he wants to do with his life, if he didn’t have such a great support system from his teachers, he wouldn’t have had the right encouragemtent to follow through with this career path choice.

“All of the AP teachers and all of the advanced courses were just super awesome for the most part,” said Herbel. “Each of them were unique but each of them also had this kind of similarity of just being fun to be around. Being able to play off of them and have fun while learning just really fits my personality.”

Social studies teacher Noa Craft was also inspired by his former teachers. Unlike Herbel, however, Craft didn’t see himself teaching at first. Craft was more set on an athletic pathway, but later took a chance on coaching which came hand in hand with teaching.

“I knew I wanted to coach but I think I would say that I’ve always had good relationships with my teachers,” said Craft. “From elementary school on up I have always liked my teachers, in general. In particular there was a coach and teacher of mine, Doug Kaltenberger, he was a health teacher which was why I was going to go into P.E. and health. He was also my basketball coach which is what I enjoyed coaching and he coached baseball, which I also did. So I think that I was pretty heavily impacted by some people, coaches and teachers in particular.”

Having a positive teacher or coach influence can impact a person for the better and potentially lead to their future careers. Although both of these men know what is right for them, the decision making process would not have been easy if they didn’t have the right people encouraging them and leading them to their full potential.

The movie Freedom Writers, is an enlightening story of an English teacher who went above and beyond her requirements as a teacher and became a compassionate educator. The students couldn’t have reached their full potential if she didn’t see a light in her students to take the risk and pull her students in the right direction. That movie is a perfect example of what both Herbel and Craft had, they both had teachers who showed them what it would be like to walk in their footsteps.

As for anyone who is unsure as to what they want to do with their lives, Herbel has one last piece of advice, “I recommend you get a job that you don’t think you’ll ever be tired of.”