Nation builders and superheroes

The power of mentors and education

Our pediatrician, Dr. P, used to ask our kids what they wanted to be when they grew up at every well-child visit. When Z was four, his response was a trash collector. By five, it was an Egyptologist. Dr. P had a friend who was an archeologist and had done digs in Egypt. Z was fascinated by this and had more questions than the doctor had time for. One of his favorite books at that time was a clever, informative book called The Way Things Work: From Levers to Lasers, Windmills to Wi-Fi, A Visual Guide to the World of Machines by David Macaulay. It somehow brought history, math, and engineering all together in a way that even a child as young as Z could comprehend. With his love of this book, all things Lego, and building elaborate train tracks, perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised when robotics and engineering became the focus of his attention in high school and now, college.

I loved to see Z’s curiosity growing and deepening as he got older. Sending him off to Kindergarten, while holding all the feels (if you have read anything else I’ve written, you know I had them ALL), was exciting to me. School was the most wonderful place I could imagine. While I know it is not designed for every learner and we have a long way to go toward that, school and I just fit. So well, in fact, I spent 24 years of my life in school. I hoped the same would be true for my children. And Z was first to test that out.

He learned in Kindergarten that what makes learning even more exciting is a good teacher. A teacher who sees you and “…believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called 'truth (Dan Rather, retrieved 8/30/2023). That first year, he had two wonderful teachers who delighted in Z’s whirring little brain and “all his wonderful little facts and anecdotes he used to share with us. They always did put a smile on our faces (Z’s Kindergarten teacher, Ms. F).

He had some other really wonderful teachers. A 7th grade English teacher who made me want to go back to middle school. Really. He was that captivating. High school math and history teachers who saw his love of these subjects and made a space for his quirky way of being. High school English teachers who appreciated his perspective on whatever text they were reading and encouraged him to share. But the teacher he will always remember, the teacher who really saw and understood him in a way that only teachers can, was the mentor for his robotics team, Mrs. G. At Z’s high school, students can choose who gives them their diploma at graduation. Z chose Mrs. G. And while so many teachers, staff, and administrators contributed to that achievement, it was Mrs. G who saw the engineering spark in Z and ignited it. Mrs. G who recognized Z for who he was, who could give him assignments and tasks that built on what he knew best and pushed him that much further. Mrs. G who just made Z feel seen and heard and appreciated.

I know this because I had my own Mrs. G. I had many wonderful teachers—adults who saw something in me and brought it to life, who encouraged my love of learning and understanding and knowing more and more and more. Dr. W saw a potential in me that I never would have recognized in myself. She ensured that I applied for college, and she taught me to stand up and fight for what I knew to be true, even when it meant making sacrifices. She earned her PhD while she was the principal of my high school. She showed me, by example, that I could achieve my dreams if I just kept pushing through. She also taught me, again by example, that mentorship is invaluable and what would allow me to achieve those dreams. She is someone I include in my gratitude list every week. I would not be who I am today without her passionate support of me.

In graduate school, I found my lifelong friend and academic mom, Dr. G. While she got me through graduate school with her professional mentorship and guidance, it is her friendship that I value the most. She knows my faults, my strengths, my history, my present, my worries, my joys, my deepest values, my worst fears. She is someone I can call sobbing and know she will talk me down. I can share my mama pride with her and not feel braggy. Because she can do the same. She has shaped the psychologist I am today, and the researcher and educator I was earlier in my career. She also continues to influence the mother and citizen I am. How did I get so lucky?

As Z goes off to college, one of the main things I hope for him is that he finds these connections, these relationships with professors, graduate students, staff, administrators. Teachers are truly the superheroes of this world. I cannot express enough how much these people have changed my life. And I have seen the impact they have had on my children. My life has been so deeply enriched and changed by the people who have chosen education as their life’s work.

What a gift they are.

...[A]fter parents, the biggest impact on a child’s success comes from the man or woman at the front of the classroom. In South Korea, teachers are known as “nation builders.” Here in America, it’s time we treated the people who educate our children with the same level of respect. —Barack Obama

To the nation builders who have taught me or my children, and those I am lucky enough to call friends. With so much gratitude for all you do. Every day.

Dr. Gloria Wetzel. Dr. Lisa Goodman. Dr. Belle Liang. Dr. David Blustein. Dr. Mary Brabeck. Dr. Sandra Morse. Dr. Leslie Lebowitz. Dr. Etiony Aldarondo. Dr. Susana Ming Lowe. Dr. Maggie Kearney. Dr. Gerald Koocher. Dr. M. Brinton Lykes. Dr. Marcy Latta. Emily Latta. Ty Klippenstein. Sarah Cooper Waelchli. Amanda Childs. Rachel Merrell. Stephen Cole. Amanda Rogers. Pamela Rose. Kristi Bach. Dr. Tiffany Hogan. Dr. Maria deJesus. John Arias. Dr. Amisha Raja. Dr. Raj Panjabi. Dr. Sandy Dixon. Tracey Cruickshank. Kassie Merrill. Amy Cesar. Aimee Galego. Mike Galego. Dr. Kristie Thomas. Dr. Susan Marine. Elizabeth Giovanardi. Hannah Edsall. Jessica Sorrentino. Nicholas Tuccinardi. Timothy Alperen. Heather McDonald. Kimberly Hubbard. Kelly Couture. James Horne. Adam Azia. Dawn Teixeira. Michaela Ilebode. Robert Jackson. Jacob Whitmore. Ashley D’Ettore. Matthew Brearley. Debra Macone. Adam Shumate. Renee LeClerc. Luke Miller. Kimberly Piper. Matthew Repucci. Mary Beth Maranto. Jason Merrill. Dr. Zachary Best. Dr. Julie Kukenberger. Christopher Beaver. Bryan Corrigan. Callie Llewellyn. Tyler Rosati. Stephen Zubricki IV. Dori Robinson. Tony Angeles. Alexandra Dietrich. Amelia Boyce Munson. Stephen Black. Kelly Flynn. Antonella DeFazio-Panza. Rebecca Simonton. Janice Papalegis. Heather Wells. Mary Dahlquist. Kara Murphy. Cory Boyce. George McCurdy. Peter Buss. Rae Friesen. Burt Friesen. Siri Yardumian-Hurst. Barbara Doering. Nancy Purcell. Vicki Clark. Ginny Gyllenhaal. Brenda Rydstrom. Keith Rydstrom. Carl Engelke. Susan Schnarr King. Jody Bolz. Maxine Clair. Dr. Marshall Alcorn. Dr. Ellen Donkin. Dr. Jill Lewis. Dr. John Skoyles. Dr. Flora Gonazalez. Dr. Maria Koundoura. Dr. Chivi Kapungu. Dr. Tu Anh Ngo. Dr. Maura Pellowe. Dr. Michael Palmer. Dr. Charles Drebing. Dr. Douglas Bitman. Dr. Richard Amodio. Dr. Kevin Henze. Dr. James Barrett. Dr. Justin Perry. Dr. Susana Blanco.

I invite you, the reader, to list your own nation builders in the comments. They truly shape our present and our future.