Who Inspires Me

Of course, each of my family members inspires me in some way.  Whether it be my mom's organization, my dad's knowledge, my brother's motivation, or my grandparent's compassion, everyone in my family has had a positive impact on me as an individual.  But someone who is not family who has greatly inspired me would be my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Coppola. 

Mrs. Coppola was an excellent teacher who truly cared about each individual student, and the time and effort she put into the classroom proved this.  I still remember so much from this class, even though I was only five years old at the time.  She not only taught us the academics like how to write, but she taught us how important it was to love others, leading by example.  I still remember the "warm fuzzys" we would collect.  It was just a colorful cotton ball that she would pass out to students when they did something nice for someone else, but to us at the time it was the greatest thing.  She printed out a little story that told the story of the warm fuzzys and how it was important to love other people.  Once we collected a jar full of them, we got to sit on the classroom pony, which was literally a pony from a carrousel ride.  She also did very thoughtful things with us students.  She would mail us letters throughout the year saying how she was proud of us and excited to learn more with us, she even sent some over the summer and always signed it "I love you".  Recently, I came across the letters I had saved from her and I realized how thoughtful and caring that was.  She also taught us the importance of being proud of ourselves and had us build a "Journal of Self-Esteem" with all our classwork and some pictures, which I still have to this day.

Mrs. Coppola is a sweet and loving woman with the most beautiful personality.  She is currently retired from teaching but is pursuing another passion of hers, art.  She is a very talented artist and offers painting lessons to aspiring artists.  This is one of her paintings: