“Most people feel like they’re fortunate to have had one or two teachers who made an impact on their lives, but for me, many of my former teachers imparted invaluable lessons to me – many of which I’ve appropriated from them for use in my own classroom. That said, the teacher that really made me want to pursue a career in education was my former history teacher, Mr. Williams. He was a grizzly bear of a man who was from another era – one before paperless classrooms, PBIS, and technology of any kind outside of his whiteboard and an old CRT TV/VCR he had on a cart in the corner of his classroom. Class most days consisted of him sitting on his stool behind his lectern talking for the entire period while we scribbled feverishly to capture his every word. Even though his way of teaching would be considered outdated by today’s standards, we all loved his class because of the way he was able to make history come to life with the stories he told that would never make their way into a high school history textbook and because of how real he was. I still remember going to Mr. Williams’ retirement party and seeing how over 30 years’ worth of former students and colleagues had come out of the woodwork to thank him for the impact he’d made on them and thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be something if I could leave a similar mark on people when I retire?’” history teacher Wesley Banh said.