Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
three women pointing at a silver laptop screen
three women pointing at a silver laptop screen
John Schnobrich, Unsplash

An Open Letter to my High School Teachers

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Sydney Boral
Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Kirby Beaton
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCSB chapter.

Dear High School Teachers,

I want to start by saying thank you. I admit that I took you for granted and never realized the impact your lessons and assignments would have on me. I graduate college soon, which means that my time in a formal classroom setting is coming to a close. Looking back on high school, I am baffled how we sat in classrooms for six hours a day, five days a week. I am even more impressed how you continue to do so.

I have been most thankful for your guidance in college when I’ve realized that you equipped me with knowledge that other students were not so fortunate to get. I may have dreaded writing and then rewriting an analytical essay on the symbolism in “The Great Gatsby,” but at least I know how. I never understood the role taking AP Human Geography would play in my life until I realized it is basically my entire major. Or how I was terrified every day during high school French because I felt inferior to my classmates, but my teacher pushed me to speak aloud over and over. This definitely came in handy when I studied abroad in France my junior year of college. There have been so many moments these last few years where I have thought about reaching out to my old teachers to say thank you, but I feared they wouldn’t care. I realize now how naive and wrong I was.  

During my freshman year of high school, I was naĂŻve enough to write in a personal essay about how “high school is the best time of your life.” I distinctly remember my English teacher correcting me with, “just wait until college,” and boy was she right. College has been unbelievable, fantastic, difficult, and so much more.  I am terrified to graduate college and face the unexpected. I wish I had the same level of relationship with my professors that I did with my teachers. High school was good and bad and everything in between. There’s not enough gratitude in this world to give to our teachers who never gave up on us. We were awkward and stubborn and lazy, but despite our immaturity they were present and determined to empower us and help us grow up.

 

Thank you to all the amazing teachers who saw the best in us. I wouldn’t have made it here without your help.

 

Sincerely,

Your Humbled Student 

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar
Hey I'm Sydney. 4th year Global Studies Major with a Minor in French. I love human rights, playing lacrosse and eating burritos.
Her Campus Placeholder Avatar
Kirby is a recent graduate from UCSB currently living in Los Angeles. As a proud Her Campus UCSB alum, she's happy to be back on the HC team covering one of her fave shows: "The Mindy Project." On any given day you can find her with her nose in a book (let's be real - it's a Kindle). In her free time, she likes petting dogs, binge-watching TV, and eating a lot of food. Find her on Instagram: @kirbynicoleb or @GirlBossEats.