A letter I love to get

[sleigh]

"You have been identified by an NKU senior as having had a positive impact on his.her academic and personal development…"

I've received some of these letters from the administration in the past, but it's always special and humbling that a graduating senior would take the time in their senior survey to mention me as an influence.  This was a nice surprise in my mailbox this last week…

I think of the special teachers I had in my life:  Charlie Wanda and John Massarella in high school; Bob Fabe and Pat Renick in college -- fantastic (and varied) instructors under whose influence I found skills and paths I might have otherwise entirely missed.  You're never able to pay back all your teachers give you (and, in truth, it might be years before you even realize how big an influence they were) -- but I'm pleased that in some small way I'm able to "pay forward" what they gave to me.

Wish I'd come across teaching a few decades earlier.