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David Ward over at Duc in Altum has kindly tagged me with a meme on the Greatest Influences in My Life (excluding God and family members).
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I’m going to narrow down this meme a little and give the three teachers that influenced me the most:
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1. Mrs. Avery Goodgame: My third grade teacher who invested much time and love in encouraging me and guiding me to fulfill the potential that she saw in me. By the grace of God, I reconnected with her a few years back, and we had lunch together a few times. It turns out that her mother has been a member for decades of the parish I go to! She told me I was a gifted student, and I believed her and strove to be the best student I could be all the way through college.
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2. Mr. Robert (Bob) Catlin: My sixth grade math teacher who introduced me to number sense and challenged me with very difficult math concepts and problems. He also referereed soccer games I played in! I used to try my hardest to win 1st place in the number sense competitions we had to earn one of the candy bars that awaited the victor!
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3. Mr. David Hailey: I never had him for a class, but he was a great influence on me nonetheless. We actually met by playing Magic: the Gathering card game! He is a math and computer science teacher, and since those topics were such deep interests of mine, we had much to talk about. We continued corresponding through college, and then he even interned for a few months at the same company I work at! We have since lost touch, but I hope to see him again one day… 
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Teachers have a hard job. They get paid relatively little; they work a ton; I don’t envy them nor feel gifted to do what they do for a career, but I am very thankful for all my teachers, especially those who took extra time for me.
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For a Thanksgiving idea, say a prayer for all the good people who were your teachers growing up!
