Nominated by: Danica Luzak

Mr. T has not only been a great teacher in the classroom, making up games and creating different ways to make learning a foreign language more fun, but he has also been an incredible mentor. Throughout my 3 years of high school so far, there is no teacher I would rather have than him. Mr. T is currently my honors German seminar teacher and also my SAS counselor, even though I still have to send him the paperwork, and I couldn't be more grateful. It might also be good to mention that I've had Mr. T as a teacher since my freshman year. 9th grade was incredibly hard for me, the transition from middle to high school was devastating. I ended up having severe mental health issues that year and Mr. T always made an effort to reach out and ask me if I was okay when I looked upset or when I didn't seem like myself in class. He let me go to guidance when I wanted to and he was never upset when I missed class for mental health reasons. I think he is one of the very few teachers who realizes how difficult it can be to get out of bed some days when you have zero motivation to do anything. In my sophomore year, we were in a global pandemic so as one can imagine, I had a hard time keeping up with my schoolwork since I had no motivation, such bad procrastination, and I was always at my least favorite place, home. I had a lot of issues at home last year, but Mr. T again met with me to talk whenever I needed someone to talk to, he would answer messages I would send him pretty much in the middle of the night because I was freaking out over something stupid, he would understand if I wasn't at a zoom meeting or if I was so tired that I slept through my classes. He never got mad and he was always so kind to me. It was so different from what I'd experienced with my own dad for my whole life. I have told him that he is like a father figure to me, which he might find kind of weird because what kind of 16 year old girl looks up to her teacher like her father, but it really is true. I mean he has given me more guidance and sometimes I feel like he cares so much more than my actual dad. Now in junior year, my mental health has gotten so much better, but I still meet with him pretty consistently because I do have a couple things here and there that I need to talk about. Mr. T is always happy to talk about anything and I know I've said this already but he never gets mad. At home, my dad is mad almost all the time over almost everything. I apologize so often because my dad forced me to apologize for pretty much everything I did when I was younger, but Mr. T makes me feel like I don't need to apologize. Writing all of this about him makes me want to cry because of how much he has helped me and how much he means to me. Mr. T deserves every award in the world for how much he helps other people, he really genuinely does more than anyone else.