It was the last day of second grade. My classmates and I stood in two single file lines waiting for the last bell of the year. While we stood there, our teacher, Miss Schwartz, passed out candy to us and thanked us for a great year. When she got to me, I refused my candy and sat the the floor in tears. I didn’t want to lose my teacher who had become one of my best friends. Miss Schwartz kneeled down, gave me a hug, and promised we wouldn’t lose touch.

During Preschool, Kindergarten, and first grade, I never had a special connection with any of my teachers. I was in their class, but I never felt noticed. All of that changed when I entered Miss Schwartz’s classroom. She was different than other teachers. She took the time to get close to her students, and to know what each child was like. She always let students have lunch with her in the classroom, and she acknowledged every child's birthday. She made the children in her class feel special, noticing their unique ways of learning.

I have always struggled in math, and I was even worse at it during the first few years of school. Instead of counting on my hands, I made marks on my papers to count, which was something some people thought was weird. Miss Schwartz noticed I was making marks and instead of questioning it and thinking it was odd, she had me get up in class and show the other kids what I did because she thought it was a helpful trick. She made me feel like I was smart, and not different.

She took time out of her own life to be with her students. When “Finding Nemo” came out in theatres, she took me to see it. She didn’t get payed extra for spending time with me--she did it because she was my friend. When I asked if we could go on a walk with her dog, she wasn’t required to say yes, yet she said yes because she wanted to. When a classmate of mine invited Miss Schwartz to her first communion, she went because she cared about the things that happened in her students’ lives. She helped me learn I can find friendship in the most unexpected places, with the most unexpected people.

Miss Schwartz had kept the promise she made to me on that last day of second grade, and has she continued to keep in touch with me. We wrote letters to each other, and eventually switched to e-mailing. To this day, I still haven’t had another teacher like her and I still look back on all of the memories I made with her. Shes unforgettable and that is something a teacher of the year should be.