A Memorable Impression

By Mikayla Peters

Peotone High School consists of around 450 students. As a small, close-knit community, it’s easy to leave impressions in school. To make yourself known for something, for students, that’s sports, clubs, achievements, excelling in school, and overall being involved. Students do everything under the sun to become a significant factor in the school, but what does the school do to become a significant factor for students in not just an academic way? 

Regularly, students see their classmates and teachers. The same routine being instilled every day without fail can leave the impression that school and learning are boring. To have everything at an academic level can come across as plain and unlively to students, creating the bond and relationship that students and the school have is critical, and it starts with the staff.

Peotone staff aren’t just staff to the students, they are mentors, listeners, and open to every student that walks in the building each morning. Each teacher puts their best foot forward to bring light to their students’ day. Securing not only their success in education, but also their ability to feel okay for who they are. Every teacher is different, but the one thing that is found all thorough our school is the interest teachers take in students' lives to establish a bond with students. Creating a safe space for students to have open conversations and express their lives and how they are apart from their academics, allowing teachers to relate and make an impression on students that leaves students with a positive high school experience. 

All teachers at Peotone have left an impression on students across the board at Peotone High School. However, I would like to recognize a couple of teachers in particular who have had a major impact on students' impressions of school and the environment they’ve created. 

Firstly, I’d like to shine a light on our phenomenal science teacher, Mr. Cork. He is an excellent teacher not only in academics but also in leaving an impression on students. After reaching out to Mr. Cork, he explained how he keeps a memorable impression on students by making his environment welcoming to start. Lights, posters, and details about himself that incorporate into his teaching are the first step to his welcoming environment. Making an environment personal to him allows the rest to fall in place. 

Mr. Cork sets the tone not only in his room but in himself. He’s emphasized the importance of not just focusing on the business aspect of the classroom but also the personal aspect. Learning about his students’ hobbies and interests outside the classroom. Talking to students, learning what they do, he makes the effort to attend at least 1 event from each club/sport to show his support to all his students equally. Mr. Cork has an endless goal of showing up for his students, even if he isn’t motivated to. He constantly puts effort into keeping his classroom in a good mood, even if he isn’t. Cork models the importance of putting your best foot forward in school and making everyone feel supported in his class.

The way Mr. Cork presents himself in his classroom is unique to him. Many other teachers, though, share the same concept. Teachers like Mr. Diaz also share the commitment to making students feel welcomed in his classroom. Mr. Diaz comes from a history of education; teaching is something that has always been in his atmosphere, from his mother to tutoring people in getting their GED. One thing that he takes away from everything that he has learned is that you first have to be comfortable in a classroom to willingly learn what is being taught to you. One thing Mr. Diaz personally does is learn his students' names and faces before he meets them. Setting the tone that each individual is known to him. Mr. Diaz feels you cannot feel comfortable in the environment you learn in if you can not be wrong in that same environment. Therefore, he reminds us that it is okay not to know or be wrong; that’s what learning is. He speaks to his students from a platform of education, assisting in any way they ask for assistance, to create an open and honest relationship with his students, allowing students to feel comfortable around him. Even with his “intimidating” demeanor, Mr. Diaz vocalizes that he is open to every student, using his experiences of life to give inspiration, knowledge, and hope to students who need it. 

Mr. Diaz takes an educational and open approach to his students, attending events in support of students, as well as Mr. Cork. That same commitment to supporting events can come in different types of support. Mr. Murray is a fan favorite of students for the amount of support he brings outside his classroom. Meeting with Mr. Murray, he explains that a big portion of creating an open environment is participation. Dress-up days, Homecoming week, coaching girls/boys soccer, attending musicals and plays are all a big part of him. Showing up for his students, making them laugh, and showing his spirit every chance he gets already sets the bar of who he is. He feels that dressing up, being involved in the school allows students to see him for who he is, creating an open environment right from the start. You may not have Mr. Murray at all, but that doesn’t mean you won’t know him. Somehow, someway, Mr. Murray is presented to know students he hasn’t even had before. Regardless of that, however, he still finds the time to walk over to each student he meets and get to know them. Find interest in their hobbies, activities, and lives, getting to know them on a deeper level than just a student at the school. As an art teacher expression of an individual is important, and if he can’t learn an individual, then how can he understand their art?

These teachers have gotten to know their students on a deeper level. Cork has modeled the importance of a positive attitude, Diaz representing the critical need to be a mentor to students in more than just an academic way, and Murray exploiting the ways of involvement in the school. Each is unique to themselves, while making the center of their classrooms based on the openness to all students and their individuality. Thus, leaving students feeling comfortable in the environment that the staff has created for them. Students can say that they felt comfortable in their high school careers due to the exceptional work of the Peotone Staff.