Gary Horowitz

To Whom It May Concern, Over my two and a half years at Barry Goldwater High School the beginning was the toughest part for me. Moving from Ireland to Arizona after being in Dublin for the majority of my life was a massive change in every aspect imaginable. I found it difficult to even speak to people as I was so different to everyone else around, being in such a big culture shock kind of made me uncomfortable in my own skin. I was here for the entire summer until my junior year, I was alone for the whole summer because I did not know anybody. I used to single myself out and never really went out of my way to talk to anybody. This led me to become depressed. I was diagnosed by a doctor and was given medicine to take every day, I just flat out was not enjoying life. I was not used to being alone, I am a very social person but coming to a new place kind of made me go back into my shell. As school started Mr. Horowitz always used to ask me little questions like "how are you adjusting here", "how's your family back home?" and a lot of other little things about me and my family and how he would hope the best for them and always reassure me that they are okay. This is way more of an interest than anyone had taken or anyone even needed to take in me, he made me feel like someone genuinely cared about my wellbeing. It became more and more apparent to me that Mr. Horowitz felt more like a friend than a teacher. Each passing day it was easier and easier for me to open up again as Mr. Horowitz always pushed in just the right way and made me feel comfortable, his class was a great way to find myself again and realize how to be comfortable in my own skin once again. Mr. Horowitz was always on me about having my work done for all of my classes, which I credit as one of the reasons I was an A /B student during my time at Goldwater. During my time at Goldwater I was a football player. Every Friday night, when we had a home game there was Mr. Horowitz and his family in the stands cheering me and the football team on. It was nice to know I had someone in the stands to support me. During my senior year I had to move back to Ireland due to personal reasons and I was unable to graduate with my class. Mr. Horowitz made me promise I would find a way to finish school and I would stay in contact. I was not sure how serious he was when it came to staying in contact because everything changes when someone moves countries, or so I thought. He did not change at all. If anything he was even more there for me than I thought a person could be. Through email and text he was always asking about my education and how my personal problems were shaping up and always asking if there was anything he could do to help along with giving me updates on how things were going back at Goldwater. One year had gone by and the 2016 class I was supposed to be in graduated and I did not. I later found my way back to Goldwater in the beginning of the next school year to complete my promise to Mr. Horowitz and get my high school diploma. On graduation day, the first person to say anything to me was of course Mr. Horowitz, who was waiting in front of my seat crying as I walked back with a diploma. Mr. Horowitz has been one of the most consistent things in my life for the past seven years. I cannot express enough how much it means for someone who has never had a male role model in his life to actually have one. When my younger sister moved to the States from Ireland, she too went to Barry Goldwater. When we enrolled her, we made sure that she had Mr. Horowitz for History so she had someone who can watch out for her and be there in a time of need like he was for me. For the last seven years I have been lucky enough to have someone be there for me like a father, I am off my medication and have been for four years. I could not have done anything that I am doing without the guidance, mentorship and friendship of Mr. Horowitz who has helped mold me into the man I am today and is still teaching me as I go along in life. Thank you William Jeter

William Jeter