This year is my first year of high school; I know, tough right? I attend Delaware Military Academy! The first day of school I walked in and I was so scared. I went through every class wishing I was at home where I felt comfortable to be myself. I was just so afraid. I was scared to be myself. The day was almost over; I remembered waiting, but first I had to go to my last class of the day. This was the class I was dreading from the start. This teacher seemed so mean. He is a retired Marine, he has a very commanding voice, and he is so tall. It turns out that he is the teacher that is helping me get through this year. Master Sergeant Howie might have seemed really scary, don’t get me wrong he can be, but he has been a great mentor these past couple months. I don’t know how my school life would be without him and the valuable information he teaches.

   Master Sergeant is one of those teachers I feel like I can tell anything to. He has helped me understand that I am good enough to be a leader, that I am good enough to be in sports, and that I am good enough to be alive. In Master Sergeant’s class we have been learning how to be a great leader and how to know when you need help. To be a good leader, I need to motivate myself and my team. I need to think reasonably when it comes to hard decisions and I need to have confidence in myself. To be a good leader I need to be willing to help anyone who needs it, I need to show courage, I need to be ready for anything that might happen, and I always have to show respect to everyone. Master Sergeant has taught me a lot of things that I am using in this point in my life, and I will also use when I get older.

   He is one of those teachers who has experienced a lot of bad and good stuff in the real world. He shares all of these with us to help us understand what is ahead of us, and what we need to know to prepare ourselves. I’ve been having a tough time this year. I have made a lot of friends, but I lost a lot of my old ones. It’s been hard for me to adjust into a school where I only knew five people from my past years. It has been really scary because I want people to like me, and I want them to know the real me. Also, this year is when guys come into play; because in middle school I didn’t really care. I feel as though Master Sergeant has helped me adjust a lot. He’s taught us that we need to be ourselves. He also taught me that I shouldn’t change myself for some guy who won’t be important in a couple years. In class, we had a discussion about how what girls and guys say affect each other. This helped girls learn that most guys get just as nervous as girls, that they get jealous, and that they feel like we girls needs to learn to understand them more. The guys learned that we need to be treated better, that we aren’t just toys to be played with, that we are strong, and that we will not wait for a guy forever. These conversations we have in his class help me learn about the world and the different people in it.

   Master Sergeant is not just my teacher but also my marksmanship instructor. I had really no idea how to shoot before I was taught by him. I was so insecure about myself when I started to shoot. I made the team, but I felt like it was a mistake. Each day of practice, I thought I did worse and worse, and I started to lose hope in myself. I thought I would never get it right. Master Sergeant could tell there was something wrong, and I told him that I thought I sucked and that I am not good. He helped me a lot by just saying that I’m doing better and that this is practice not a competition. He said that I will be ready for when the competition comes! His words made me feel great about myself! A few weeks after he and I talked about it, it turns out I just won a silver medal from our last competition! He surprised me with it. He was so proud of me, I felt great knowing I did well, and it made me feel even better that I didn’t let him down. Most teachers care about you, but they don’t really care about your personal life. I feel as though Master Sergeant cares about how I feel and how his other students feel. He will always ask me how I am doing, how my sports are going, and also how my life is. Just him showing that he cares, I know if I ever need advice or help, I can go to him.

   Master Sergeant Howies might look like a scary guy and can be a scary guy, but he is more interested in helping his students do well in life than making their lives worse. He is a very helpful teacher with great advice and great life experiences that he shares with us. I have had a lot of role models throughout my whole life but Master Sergeant is the one teacher who stood out to me this year. I’ve only know him for a couple months, but he has made a great impact on my life. This is why I am nominating him for Educator of the Year!