Chapter 1: More than a Teacher

“What do you want to be later in life?” “A writer,” I responded resoundingly without hesitation. At the time that my eighth-grade social studies teacher, Mr. R, asked me this question, I was reading avidly and could think of no better profession than coming up with stories that would open new worlds to the imagination.

“Well, Maria, I’m sure you will become whatever you set your mind to.”

I was moved at the time because this teacher thought so highly of me that he would make such a comment in the middle of class, seemingly without reason. Perhaps Mr. R had sensed in me a fighting spirit that pushed me not to fail in anything I tried to do, especially in academics. Later that year, he wrote me a letter telling me that if I ever needed a recommendation, I could write to him at his personal address. One could imagine his surprise when years later I wrote to him not asking for a recommendation, but instead, telling him that I accomplished what I had set my mind to: Instead of being a writer, I had become a mathematics teacher.