Teachers - Real Life Heroes

A few years back I got this quiz in an email:

Write down the answers to this quiz -----
Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
Name five Olympic gold medalists.
Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.
Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
Name the last half-dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
Name the last decade's national or world champions in your favorite sport.
Name five teachers who aided your journey through school.

Which question is the easiest? The last one.

This past December a fantastic lady and teacher of mine from high school unexpectedly passed away. I was lucky enough to be in town to be able to pay my respects and when I arrived at both the wake and funeral was happy to see how many other alumni took time during their holiday break to come to show how much of an impact she'd had on our lives. At the funeral, one of our other teachers even told us that she holding herself together until she pulled into the parking lot...an honor guard of students and alumni were lining the walk-way from the parking lot to the church door. She said she was so moved and suprised at how many RK girls had shown up. But I think it was the least we could do to show how much our teachers mean to us, even after we have long been gone from school.

Here's a pic one of the girls put up on our Facebook group in remembrance of Mrs. Korte. She was just one of those kinda of teachers! (Grr Kougars with a K!)



Mrs. Korte was the computer and business teacher at Rosati-Kain for over 30 years and was a welcoming presence up on that third floor. But that's not where I first met her. As I was nearing the end of grade school, her daughter and I went to the same Girl Scouts golf clinic. I was just starting to look at high schools in the area and the subject came up with Mrs. Korte as we were leaving the clinic one day. She told me about this school that she taught at...and I remember thinking - "She's so nice! If all the teachers are like her, that'll be a great school." So I owe a lot to her. I checked out RK and fell in love with it.

Mrs. Korte had one other major impact on my life, this time in her computers class. I viewed this required class as basically a 'let's learn how to type' sort of course. And since I'd been using a word processor for years just fine (I was a hunt-and-peck typist, but I was fast and it was working for me) I was just mad that I had to waste my time on this class. I'm very, very glad that class was required because not only was Mrs. Korte a great teacher (the class was a blast!) but I am now able to type really fast...without looking at the keyboard. Every time I sit down at a computer or watch one of my professors using the old hunt-and-peck routine I think of Mrs. Korte. She's saved me a lot of time over the years :)

Funny story - at the end of this past semester I had to re-type a seminar write-up...I'd put the hard copy in a safe place but could NOT find the electronic copy anywhere. So I was sitting in my office clacking away and all of a sudden my office mate bust out - "What ARE you doing?" She couldn't believe that I was actually typing up something because (A) I was typing so fast and (B) I wasn't looking at the computer...just the hard copy. I laughed and credited my ole RK teacher!

She is one of the many fantastic teachers I have had over the years that have gotten me to where I am today. The only big diservice they have done for me is leading me to believe that all teachers care...care about their students as people not just a one dimensional thing AND care that their students actually learn. It's been hard to adjust to having a few professors who could care less about anything other than their work...but I'd rather be dealing with this lesson now than back in high school!

So, thanks to all those great teachers out there. You may not get paid very well, but you make a bigger difference in more lives than so many million-dollar CEOs.


In Memory of Mrs. Korte
'For Good'
(this song was sung at her funeral)

"I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you...

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good.

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend..."