There are three SHS teachers who stand out in my mind for the incredibly valuable skills they taught me.

Miss McKee, 9th grade English, taught me English grammar so completely, that to this day I mentally recite her rules for punctuation when I need to communicate a complex thought accurately. While her habitual undergarment adjustments could be distracting and she ruined me forever in the area of creative writing, she gave me an understanding of our language that was critical to my professional success.

Miss Zimmer, 10th grade world history, was my favorite teacher of all time for lots of reasons. I'll limit myself here to the skills she taught me--to outline text books and lectures and to write essay answers and rational research reports. These two skills paved my way to success at three different universities and enabled me to be successful first as a teacher and then as a management consultant. Without her, I'd have been much less successful in life.

Last, but not least, Dr. Irwin who taught me Latin--the basic key to so much of our language. To this day, I can't read or write Latin--and can't explain ablative absoutes, but I can deduce the meaning of thousands of unknown words by looking at their Latin roots. Because of Dr. Irwin's teaching I share his joy in the beauty of language. And as a bonus, because of the solid grounding he provided in Latin, I was able to avoid ALL mathematics requirements in college by substituting the equally rigorous logic and discipline of further Latin courses.

Do any of you have any similar stories to tell? I hope you'll share them with us.
Sandy