When I think of an educator I tend to think of the generic teachers who stand in front of a class and lecture you about math. For me the best kind of educator is someone who makes a significant impact on your life and often doesn’t even realize they are. Someone who supports you, someone who learns from you as well as shows you new things, and someone who makes you learn a little bit more about yourself along the way. Sammi Brossman is my co worker at the North Lake Inn, my best friend since sophomore year, and my educator.
  From painfully long nights working in a hot kitchen, rushing to complete the waves of food orders that are presented to us, to playing zombies in a basement and eating mac and cheese, Sammi is always there for me. Although I have been working at the North Lake Inn longer than she has, I still learn new things from her that slipped past me in my previous two years there. Without her I would still be over-charging people for half orders of pastas, would still be struggling to prioritize, and would still be no more than a mediocre dishwasher at best.
Exhausting nights at work tend to lead to dramatic scenes playing out amongst the workers in the kitchen. It’s common for someone to storm out either from having a breakdown or out of pure rage. Every employee there is subject to this, including me. When I think about work, I often think about the long nights spent sitting in the back of Sammi’s truck on the verge of crying as she explained to me that our coworkers simply need someone to yell at and,at some point, it will be me. She would stay in her truck with me for hours if that was what was needed to help me move  on from the yelling matches that had taken place. From this I learned to disregard comments from coworkers that I deem unjust because they are likely not meant to be directed at me. Before, one mistake or fight would often snowball into an endless streak of them. But now I am capable of continuing on and improving with my work because I have been taught not to dwell on mistakes I made or rude critiques from the managers.
Sammi, although short in height, is a mountain of pure drive and determination which has always inspired me to be better than I am. She pushed herself to graduate high school early. Studying, focusing, and fighting to raise her grades in the interest of proving something to not only her family but mostly to herself. From her, I learned it is better to do something for yourself than to try and please other people. I have always been one to do what other people say, not because lack of assertiveness but because I simply enjoy helping others, and now --because of Sammi-- I understand that occasionally saying no to others is okay as long as it feels like the right thing to me. When it comes to work I am the person whom everyone goes to when they need to take off. I rarely say no even if I already have plans. Sammi has taught me that canceling my plans for someone else’s isn’t necessary and that saying no is sometimes the better option.
The lessons I have learned through my work with Sammi have made me more confident and make me want to branch out and learn new things. She always is up for a challenge when it comes to work and if it weren’t for her, I would have never volunteered to learn broasters. The thought of making 80 percent of the food we serve always seemed intimidating to me, but with my new found confidence, I stepped up and now prefer to run this station over doing dishes or making pizzas.
Overall, Sammi has taught me more than any school teacher I have encountered and she has learned a great deal from me as well. I am more knowledgeable about myself, my job, and about life in general from the unexpected lessons I had learned. Sammi is an educator unlike any other. Because of her, I am more confident, more willing to try new things, and way more than a mediocre dishwasher at best.