WEB EXCLUSIVE

As we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, The Lion’s Tale wants to reach out to some of the educators that have changed our lives to thank them for their support.

Dear Mr. Wainscott,

I have never written a thank you letter to a teacher before, but I think you more than deserve one. History has never been my favorite subject, or my best subject for that matter, but I’ve learned more in the past year with you than any history class has taught me in the past ten years. You even managed to make me fall in love with the subject; a feat that I didn’t think was possible. Everyday I would walk into sixth period and genuinely be excited to learn something new. Crazy, right? All this to say: thank you.Thank you for your sarcasm, “dynamic” presentations, superb music choice, encouragement, amusing stories, and wonderful dating advice that has made your class worthwhile. Thank you for not only allowing me to learn so much about the world I live it but for also helping me discover that, despite my personal beliefs, I have the capability to be successful. Thank you for inspiring me to seek a career involving history, whether I major in history or pursue law school; it was a huge relief when I finally felt like I had discovered something meaningful I wanted to do. But most importantly, thank you for being a teacher that has legitimately taught me and inspired me. Not being able to physically be in class these past couple months has been difficult, but I hope that you’ll let me stop by and antagonize you every now and then when I’m a junior. – Skylar Zern, Entertainment Editor

Dear Mr. Waisenen, 

Although chemistry is not my favorite subject whatsoever, your class is something I looked forward to everyday. You really care about your students and the way you run your class really shows that. You give up time to talk even though we were loud and you give us plenty of time to catch up on assignments. I always enjoyed the labs and made so many friends and new experiences because of your class. – Emma Yost, Online Editor 

Dear Mrs. Brinkman, 

I appreciate you because you’ve always made learning fun. For those who don’t know, you have an award in your room that says something like “Most Enthusiastic Teacher,” and it is apparent how you got this award the first day you walk in the room. While all the freshmen are busy trying to look cool and stay quiet, you’re running rampant around the room like a mad woman, in the best way possible, of course. I still remember a specific lesson about cells. You were teaching us about ribosomes, an organelle that is used to make protein, and you taught it by running around the room and asking various students with scared looking expressions at full volume, “Have you seen my ribsome!?” You are 100 percent crazy. But the fact of the matter is by the end of the year, I knew everything there was to know about cells, and the whole class came out of their shells to form one big family, and you are still my favorite teacher a year later. – Ian Wiltshire, Reporter

Dear Ms. Pope, 

You have helped me discover my true love for photography. I’ve only had your class for two semesters, but I already love it. You are a very kind teacher, but you let us know when we need to put in a bit more effort into our work. I love the class because it’s very flexible with your style of photography. You make the learning portions of your class interesting. You’re really good at teaching the different elements of photography and I feel like I learn something useful in your class everyday. I also love how you relate to your students. You’re funny and you aren’t super serious and strict all the time like most of my teachers and, trust me, that’s a good thing. I love your class and I fully intend to continue to take photography next year as well. It’s taught me so much and the class is just so fun overall. You have fully contributed to giving me a better first impression on high school as a freshman. – Emilynn Williamsson, Reporter

Dear Coach Rondone, 

I wanted to say thank you for all you have done with trying to help me understand math, especially in your class. You make math class seem so interesting and fun. I have never had a teacher call me by my last name, so it was weird at first, but funny to me. Thank you for your time in teaching your crazy sixth period class, for making my last period of the day hilarious even when I was having a bad day. Even the days where you did not teach were funny since sometimes you would talk with us and eavesdrop on some of our conversations, which is a benefit of sitting next to your desk. It made the conversation turn into something funny instead of serious. So thank you for making class fun and taking the time to help a student who was struggling, despite their grade. – Justina Nielsen, Business Manager

Dear Mrs. Brown, 

You are a wonderful teacher and I’ve really enjoyed your class all year. Your old-school teaching ways have really helped me do well with my work. Switching to virtual school has not been easy for you, but you’ve done an amazing job making it an easy transition for all your students. I just want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me and the rest of your students. I hope you have a great summer, Mrs. Brown! – Brianna Bibona, Reporter

Dear Mrs. Kammeraad, 

Over my past four years, I have been with some teachers the whole way through high school and others for one semester. But I believe as a teacher it shouldn’t matter how long you teach your kids, if you’re good at what you do you can make memorable experiences for any student. I’ve had a couple of moments like these that stick out to me in these times. Mrs. Kammeraad, you hold a special place in my heart. For all of junior year, I would sit with you during break and we would talk about D&D, Doctor Who or crazy things happening in our lives. I saw myself in you, not just as a fellow geek, but also as a kind-hearted and admirable person that I aspire to be. There’s not one memory that’s the best (even though I ran into you at Chick-fil-a), because I cherished every single day that I spent talking to you. You have made me a better writer and a better person through not just your teaching but also your kind heart. I hope one day I’ll get to say goodbye. – Lindsey Simpson, Reporter

Dear Mrs. Alfert, 

I want to thank you for how amazing and caring you were to me in freshmen year. You were my biology teacher and I wasn’t that great at biology. You always helped me out and helped me understand how important school was. You would go out of your way and make sure I learned and got help with your class. You really know how to understand high schoolers and how to influence them. I ended up loving going to your class and kind of started to enjoy learning about biology. So thank you for giving me hope that school doesn’t have to be horrible. – Samantha Gibilisco, Reporter

Dear Mr. Furiosi, 

I’d like to thank you for your dedication and commitment to giving your students a well-rounded education. I first had you as my AP Biology teacher when I took it sophomore year. It was a daunting task, as everyone told me not to take your class as a sophomore because it was difficult and challenging. And they were right, it was, but over the course of the year, I fell in love with science. You have helped me develop life skills such as handling stress, how to properly network and how to present complex research to the general public to make a true impact. Many of the fondest memories I have made in the last four years come from the “science fair family” and your class. If I didn’t take your class, I would never have experienced such growth and been this successful in my high school career. I’ve learned so much in the past three years being your student and I’ll take these lessons with me to my future. – Vani Thupili, Sports Editor

Dear Mr. Schult, 

Thank you so much for all that you have done for your classes and for caring so much about all of your students. Even during quarantine, you have been a smiling face through it all. I think that it’s good that you’ve so strongly reinforced that giving up is not an option through these tough times, and that we should continue to look forward to a better and brighter future. As a senior, I never could have anticipated that I would be graduating through a global pandemic, so the reassurance I’ve seen from you has been absolutely wonderful.  It makes me feel happy to log in and do the assignments you’ve assigned for us because they are always entertaining and some of them even promote good relationships with family members. It made me feel welcomed into the class and it was always bright and cheerful, and the optimism was a bit infectious. – K Penuel, Artist

Dear Mr. Rush, 

In the past, taking a required English class seemed like nothing special. It was just another class needed to earn a class credit. But this year as a junior, having you as a teacher made class more meaningful. In class, we’d discuss seemingly boring works by authors from long ago, but it ended up being fun. From time to time, you would show us funny videos that helped us better understand the reading. The workload was broken down in a way that wasn’t overwhelming, and the atmosphere of the class was always enjoyable. You showed us kindness and were always willing to listen to what we had to say. You made reading poetry easy and you broke down literature in a way that anyone could understand. In a way, you became like a friend to us. So, thank you for being a teacher at Oviedo High School who taught us when to put words in quotes or italics, but most importantly how to be kind and live your life. – May Frangoul, Contributing Writer

Dear Ms. Skaggs, 

I’ve always been a relatively bright student. Every year I make honor roll, my teachers like me and I get exceptional FSA scores. Though there is one subject that I’ve struggled with my whole life: math. It’s difficult for me to memorize all of the confusing formulas and comprehend the tricky material. The numbers get jumbled around in my head, I get frustrated too quickly and it causes me to give up. This year has been different, though. I’ve started to pick up on the algebraic equations that I’ve never gotten before, all thanks to you. You’re the best math teacher I’ve ever had and I owe you a lot for all you’ve taught me. You genuinely care about each and every one of your students on a deeper level than most people do, and I’m extremely grateful for getting to be one of those students. – Kaden Bryant, Contributing Writer

To every teacher, 

Thank you to all the teachers for your hard work and dedication. Thank you for going out of your way to teach us and to help us become smarter. Thank you for helping your students become successful in the future and helping us learn. Thank you for making class fun and helping us become more intelligent. Thank you for taking time out of your day to teach your students for nothing in return. Thank you for helping your students become better and smarter kids. Thank you all for everything you do, it is truly amazing. – Alexis Shaughnessy, Contributing Writer