Photo courtesy of Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

I wasn’t always the greatest student. I recall a meeting with my guidance counselor and parents in high school where my counselor said, “If you don’t turn things around, you’ll be working retail your whole life.” I attribute my academic turnaround to a few teachers, who, after hearing that comment, didn’t allow that to occur.

I attended Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Illinois, a school ranked in the top twenty high schools in the state by U.S. News & World Report. It’d make sense for the teachers to be excellent, right? You’d be mistaken, as many educators at my school approached teaching as a chore. Many simply did the bare minimum, often standing at the whiteboard lecturing on and on while maintaining low levels of student engagement.

I recall my teachers in freshman and sophomore year falling victim to lazy teaching, and although many classmates struggled to pass, they offered little assistance. This made me despise mathematics completely because I never received the mentoring needed to properly comprehend the subject. I was told by my guidance counselor that I should move to a lower-level math class because I wasn’t studious enough to keep up with the class I’d be placed into.

I advocated for myself and demanded to be placed into a precalculus class with a teacher I had heard fantastic reviews about. His name is John O’Malley and he is an award-winning educator that students love. His impact was immediate. I genuinely understood precalculus one and received an A, so I was placed into precalculus two, which also yielded an A. O’Malley completely changed how I approached mathematics, and I now feel much more confident in using those skills. He was always patient and understanding with myself and my fellow classmates when we couldn’t grasp something.

A 2019 study published in the Journal of Educational Psychology investigated students’ relationships with their teachers and how those relationships can cause students to take leaps and bounds in their education. The study found that “there is [a] cumulative association between students’ engagement and increasing the number of positive teacher–student relationships across the range of school subjects in students’ academic lives,” essentially meaning that students will perform better when educators make an effort to connect with them.

I used to struggle with public speaking until I took a high school broadcasting class with Daniel Oswald, who walked me through getting over that fear. He encouraged me to join his radio broadcasting class, which I did, even working on the board of 88.5 WGBK and receiving an award for Broadcast Excellence in 2021.

I am a journalism major, so I deal with data-driven stories that can show readers and listeners the effects and impacts of numbers. I can confidently say that if not for the assistance I received from O’Malley, I would not be able to complete the calculations needed for many of my pieces. As a writer and editor for The Hofstra Chronicle, I’ve published a plethora of articles that utilized data and numbers as a basis for my points. I’ve used those skills to publish detailed statistical breakdowns while working as a beat reporter for the Hofstra softball team. I’ve also presented my articles over the airwaves on 88.7 WRHU, furthering my career in broadcasting by hosting and producing a talk-show for two years, which I thank Oswald for.

Without these educators’ care and effort, I wouldn’t have made it through high school, let alone college. O’Malley rescued me from a hatred of numbers because of the bond he built along with his willingness to supply extra help. Oswald helped me get over a fear of public speaking and inspired me to pursue broadcast journalism as a career. Educators who are willing to connect with their students and make classes interesting and understandable can make all the difference in shaping their students’ futures.