May 2, 2007 The Senior Impact Awards

Yes, this photo is old...but I thought it would be a neat Valentine's Day upload--- since these are my two favorite guys to work with! (and yes, That is me with them) You can probably recognize who they are from seeing their kitty counterparts. Mr. H and Mr. Shafer were my seventh grade Reading and Science teachers. At the end of my senior year in high school, I nominated them both for the Senior impact awards. I wrote an essay on why they were so inspirational to me through my grade school career:

Mr. Gerry Hollingsworth
Seventh Grade Reading Teacher

I had the opportunity to have him for a reading teacher back in seventh grade and still to this day, he’s always been someone I could talk to. As an imaginative young person, I needed a constant reminder of reality and Mr. Hollingsworth was always there to remind me, always there to tell me not to stress out, and never to give up.
The first year of middle school had been tough for me; I nearly failed sixth grade and the start of seventh grade only intimidated me more. I knew deep down inside that I had the potential to be a good student. The only problem was a rotten attitude that I knew would be hard to get rid of. I was ready for a fresh start, but I was scared and I wasn’t sure how long my will power would hold up.
When I first met Mr. Hollingsworth, I was late to class. I admit, when he turned and gawked at me for my tardiness, I was a little afraid of him. Until I got to know him better, I tried to avoid him. As time went on, it seemed as if he purposely picked on me…just because. I felt that if I’m going to get picked on a lot, that I had better look good too. I had to step up and bring myself to my full potential. Mr. Hollingsworth put me to this challenge.
It wasn’t long before my rotten attitude disappeared and I reached my full potential as a student. I began to realize Mr. Hollingsworth wasn’t so scary anymore. In fact, I started to think he was funny, especially when his buddy, Mr. Shafer, was around. It seemed as if things were going great but there were still times that became extremely stressful for me especially at home. Mr. Hollingsworth’s advice to me was, “Whatever you do, don’t stress out! If you keep your head up, you’ll succeed in whatever you do.” As over-used as it sounded, his words alone still gave me hope. To this day, when I get into tough situations, I take Mr. Hollingsworth’s advice. He was right; tough situations are much easier to handle when I’m not stressed out.
Mr. Hollingsworth is an awesome teacher. He’s a good guy to talk to because that’s what he does best and he “keeps it real.” I would like to nominate Mr. Hollingsworth for his impact on me.


Mr. Barry Shafer
Seventh Grade Science teacher

Mr. Shafer was perhaps the funniest teacher I have ever had. He gave me the will power to make it through school just by making me laugh! Well…that wasn’t the only thing. Mr. Shafer was an enlightening teacher. To this very day, he tells me stories that have a lesson within them…….and of course, most of them are funny too.
Mr. Shafer has the unique ability to teach using humor without being corny. I was absolutely mesmerized by this. I believe it is the best way to learn because his magic worked for me. I had Mr. Shafer for Life Science in seventh grade. Typically Life Science seemed like a boring class….but not if Mr. Shafer was teaching it. He made it the most enjoyable, enlightening class I had ever taken in my school career here at Spring-Ford. I had a lot of good days in middle school because of Mr. Shafer. And to make it even better, his friendship with Mr. Hollingsworth brought on all kinds of fun moments too.
Although Mr. Shafer has retired, I still manage to run into him or have him as a substitute teacher in high school. He still enlightens me with his stories and says funny things about Mr. Hollingsworth that still crack me up.
I can’t imagine my world without Mr. Shafer. His ways of teaching are all inspiring. If I ever become a teacher one day, I hope to be able to do what he does. It is Mr. Shafer’s humor that initially inspired me to create a caricature of him. I would like to also nominate Mr. Shafer as a true inspiration and an inimitable teacher.

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Hopefully this will be a nice reference to those involved in MR. SHAFER's APRIL FOOLS DAY CONTEST as well. And hopefully you awesome watchers of mine will see that these guys are the inspiration behind my enthusiasm towards artistic achievement. hugs to all!