Mrs. Yerrington-My Teacher of the Year
By Kristen Colon

Everyone has that one special teacher who has shaped them in ways they would never expect. That teacher for me is my old middle school English teacher, Mrs. Yerrington. Not only is she an amazing teacher, she is an amazing person as well. She told me to never to accept less than my full potential. She was talking about writing of course, but I apply those words to my everyday life and I always live up to my full potential in everything.

Before I had her as a teacher, I only did work just to get by. Work came easy to me, whether it was English or math so I figured I didn’t have to try so hard. I wrote basic papers and essays, not putting much thought or effort into any of them. I viewed writing as a sort of chore that I was forced into doing just to pass a class. It never occurred to me that I had the potential to do more with my writing. I had the basic skills but my writing lacked creativity and didn’t flow in any sort of interesting way.

Our first big assignment for the class was to enter a writing contest, and I was less than thrilled. I wanted something short and easy, so I decided on the Patriots Pen essay; little did I know it wasn’t as easy as I hoped it would be. I turned in my first draft to Mrs. Yerrington and she had a lot of feedback for me. She said my writing lacked substance and meaning. She told me I had the potential to do so much more and that I shouldn’t accept less than my full potential. She taught me that writing is an art that takes practice and that you can’t always expect to do get a piece right the first time. I accepted and took in all her feedback and rewrote the paper with more feeling. A few weeks later I found out I had won regionals for the contest I had entered. I was so thankful to Mrs. Yerrington, and I still am.

From that day on I have always tried my best in everything I do. It amazes me how a few sentences from an 8th grade English teacher could change my life so drastically. Mrs. Yerrington really got to know all of her students on a personal level and never hesitated to go above and beyond, and for that I respect her tremendously. I know that without her I wouldn’t have grown into the person I am today. She believed in me, and now I believe in myself. I am now a senior in high school and have grown so much as not only a writer but as a person. I hope that everyone has a teacher who has shaped their lives in such a positive way as Mrs. Yerrington did mine. Mrs. Yerrington, thank you.