“Good afternoon.” Every time I walked into room 199, Mrs. Carnell greeted us with a smile. Mrs. Carnell is a teacher I will remember for the rest of my life.

I had her the first semester of my senior year, at Arrowhead High School, in our eight person Advanced Composition class. It was the smallest class I had ever been in, especially at a school with over two thousand students. Being in a small class helped me become outgoing and talk to people I wouldn't have. This will help me in the future with college, and even into the workforce.

When we were writing our historical fiction stories, I had my heart set on writing a story about the holocaust, and Mrs. Carnell was hesitant with the broad topic. She encouraged me to narrow it down to just the Jewish roundup in Paris. Mrs. Carnell helped me through the piece, making sure it was accurate. That piece ended up being one of the best pieces I have ever written, because of Mrs. Carnell, and how she told me every day how detailed it was, and how it created emotion in my piece.

I remember walking into class every day and Mrs. Carnell would be wearing jeans, and usually an Arrowhead related shirt. And she always had her hair up, in a french braid. Everyday, in our class (our eight person class), she would talk to each one of us. She talked about which socks Daniel wore that day, what was the scoop was on Molly’s love life, and where Spencer was going to be traveling next.

I loved how Mrs Carnell could talk to us about what was going on in her life, as well as in ours. She had us write daily Journals too, which helped her get to know each of us as individuals. I looked forward to Mrs. Carnell's class every other day, ninth and tenth hour. New stories were going to emerge. The gossip in the senior class was also a topic. We would sometimes get off topic, but doesn’t everyone? We would always get back on the topic of writing though.

Everyone in our school knew about the eight person Advanced Composition class, and wanted to know the gossip on Molly’s boy drama. By the middle of the semester, our group of eight got closer, and we had a group chat on Snapchat, and we began to call ourselves The Cult. We used our chats to get feedback from each other on our essays, as well as know what the homework was for the night. Mrs Carnell would make sure everyone in the class had their moment to speak and share their opinion in the topic, and therefore would make us more connected. She gave us a space to feel like we could do and say anything that was on our minds and not feel judged about it. I felt safe in her class.

When Christmas time rolled around, we threw a party to celebrate our class. Mrs. Carnell got us each a pair of socks (to commemorate Daniel's socks), and made sure that each of them matched our personalities, or closely related to something that was going on in our lives. I got bright pink ones with dogs on them. Mrs. Carnell also wrote personal letters to each one of us. At the end of the semester, Mrs. Carnell was sure to get a picture of all of us to remember, and she even made us bandanas that said “The Cult” and each of our names. This made me feel like I actually belonged in this group, and that Mrs Carnell knew all eight of us on a different level then other teachers in our school.

Thank you, Mrs. Carnell, for teaching me the right way to write an essay, and to write what I believed in. Thank you Mrs. Carnell for helping me come out of my shell and talk to people I would have never spoken to outside of class. Thank you Mrs. Carnell for making my senior year one to remember.v