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By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

Looking down at our books in pre-AP English class, my fellow students and I silently read through a six-page short story by Ernest Hemingway. As we lifted our heads up one by one after finishing, we each found ourselves with the exact same thought: “Well, that was pointless.”

The short story told the tale of a traveling couple in Spain that were enjoying alcoholic beverages and arguing about some unspecified operation. The man kept trying to drive the conversation back to the operation but the woman simply wanted to talk about the scenery. The couple’s argument never gets anywhere and the story ends.

With everyone done reading the story, our English teacher then brought us back to the beginning of the story. He finally teased out how the woman was constantly obsessed with the landscape which was long, round, white and how she said the hills looked like white elephants. Finally, lightbulbs appeared above our heads one by one: the woman was pregnant! And the operation her partner wanted her to have was an abortion.

This was just one of many such instances during my time studying English at Shelby County High School, but I’ll never forget Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” and more crucially, I’ll never forget my English teachers.

I would not have the job I have today or my degree in English if it weren’t for the lessons they taught me. I had already developed a love for reading but it was during those formative years under their instruction that I saw the power of diction and prose.

It was during those classes that I learned how to write formally, how to create a thesis, how to create an argument and how to tie everything together. It was thanks to them that I was bored and unchallenged in my initial English classes in college because they had already prepared me and taught me the necessary skills I needed for composition.

Now, years removed from my time in high school and college, I can see that the true impact of educators lies not in the course material but in the life lessons it’s imbued with. Anyone can read a lesson plan from a textbook, but it takes a special person to make that material interesting. It’s even harder to make it impactful.

With National Teacher Appreciation Week concluded, I want to extend my gratitude to all of the educators in Shelby County and the work you do. Know that every single year, even if you don’t know it, you have permanently influenced at least one student whose life will be forever changed thanks to your instruction.

And to my high school English instructors, Chris Baker and Anne Stansell: thank you!