Throughout my years in high school, I’ve learned many things, how to converse properly, how to get into college, how to enjoy life, and how to make lasting memories. I thought I knew everything (but what teenager doesn’t?) and I was arrogant, lazy, and all around, what coach called a “grade chaser”. I no longer cared about learning. I just wanted, no, NEEDED that A, no matter what it took to get there. Sure, I was smart, but I didn’t use that attribute to my advantage. I didn’t show up to classes, I would refuse to do my homework, and I would just be an all-around “screw up” most days.
But, this year, I met my AP United States History teacher, Mr. Dan Sparago, but everyone calls him coach. I thought he was going to be just another AP teacher; assign notes, give quizzes and let us teach ourselves. I didn’t expect to learn how to be a better, more humble person. At the beginning of this year, I did my notes well, but bombed every single quiz, because as he would put it, I chased the grade, not the knowledge. That hit me so hard, and I finally began to see more clearly what I have to do in my life to be less of an arrogant hot head, and begin becoming that student that I have believed I was for years.
Every so often, we have these conversations, coach to class, about how he expects us to become the upperclassmen we say we are, and that requires us to look at ourselves and honestly examine who we are as not only students but also as real, mature human beings. I have never had a teacher like this until now, and he has taught us so much about how we should act as civilized people.
Probably the most influential thing he has taught me was to be dependable, responsible, and approachable in the real world. I applied this to my new job, and my managers noticed my self-awareness, and how I attempted to stay humble and kind at all times, and they have even pulled me aside to comment about my maturity as a mere 16-year-old, part-time cashier. Coach Sparago has changed my life, and the four most memorable words he has spoken and that will stick with me forever are, “Would you hire yourself?”
