I never thought that I would have any one inspire me as much as my 8th grade math teacher, Brian Starrett. He has inspired me to be a better person than who I was before. Mr. Starrett and I have always gotten along ever since 6th grade; he has really been there for me. I could talk to him about anything like what was going on with my family, and he wouldn’t say anything to anyone.

Mr. Starrett and I always laughed no matter what we were talking about. He was always happy and he never talked about his problems. All he cared about were the kids and making sure that they were enjoying their day. Just to have a laugh with everyone I would in the middle of the floor and do my work while Mr. Starrett was teaching. Mr. Starrett didn’t mind unless we weren’t doing anything. When we stopped trying and started messing around, that’s when he would get mad. Mr. Starrett never got mad at us unless the people were messing around. I would always raise my hand and answer the questions because we always answered the question on the head projector. It was fun when you wrote on it!

Mr. Starrett and I would always talk every morning ever since 6th grade. We would talk about everything from volleyball to how things were going. We would just have a regular conversation. But, once I got to 8th grade I would always go into his classroom and just sit there and write on his white board. My friends and I would be out by our lockers just talking and when it was about time for the announcements to come on, Mr. Starrett would tell us to go to class, but half the time we never listened, so he would go into his room and grab his whistle and blow it to get our attention and tell us to get to class. We listened in the beginning, but then after a while we were used to it and just laughed at him because we couldn’t take him serious.

I would always look forward to the end of the day, not to go home, but to go to either volleyball practice or games because Mr. Starrett always made it fun. When he needed help with something like volleyball, he would always come to me with the problems because he knew that I played volleyball for another team and I kind of new more than him. Mr. Starrett is an awesome volleyball coach, and I loved being at practices because it wasn’t hard or boring; it was right in the middle. We learned new things and always practiced our weaknesses. Mr. Starrett loved it when we laughed as long as we were also trying our best. At the end of each practice or games I could tell that Mr. Starrett was very proud of each and everyone one of us. He never gave up on us even if we lost 1 or 2 games. He made me realize that if you want to win, you have to work for it and not just for volleyball. In general, you have to work for what you want.

Mr. Starrett will always be my favorite teacher and my inspiration. I think that he should be nominated for the Teacher of the Year because he is a loving and caring guy. He will do anything for anybody in a heartbeat. Now that I am in high school, I miss him, and I wish that I could have him for my math teacher every year.