For many students, including myself, fully understanding mathematics has always been a long and challenging process. When I reached eighth grade, my problems finally all went away. For the first time in my entire middle school experience, I was finally able to understand the concept of algebra! It was all thanks to my teacher, Dr. Jennifer Harrington, at Cab Calloway School of the Arts.


Dr. Harrington has to be one of the smartest teachers I know. Every lesson she taught us could be so complex and difficult, but it was the way that she would express all of her knowledge in so many different ways possible that everyone would be able to understand it. Math had always been a difficult subject for me, and during eighth grade I thought that taking a higher math class would’ve been too hard for me. Dr. Harrington is the kind of teacher who was very organized with the way she teaches; she always gave multiple examples and broke the concepts down in order for the class to learn how to complete the entire process. Unlike other teachers, Dr. Harrington would go back and re-explain the lesson in another form. Some people might not have understood the notes on the board; therefor, she would go back and draw it out or verbally go over it again until we were able to find a way to understand.


Teachers come in all different shapes, sizes, and ages. I think that the main reason everyone felt so close to Dr. Harrington is because she is pretty similar to her students. She is young, stylish, and is always available to have a nice conversation and joke around. Her sense of humor is one of her best qualities, just like any other teenager, Dr. Harrington always had good jokes up her sleeves. Dr. Harrington also has a very great sense of style; in fact, when she came back from her medical leave, she had many stylish scarves to match all of her outfits! Every day you could always spot Dr. Harrington looking dressed up, hair done perfectly, and ready to start the day.


Middle school can be such a hard time for everyone; all students go through many physical and emotional pains. Out of all the teachers at Cab Calloway School of the Arts, Dr. Harrington just seemed like the perfect person to talk to. Even with her tightly packed academic schedule, she always had time to sit down and talk about anything. It’s always easy to ask advice from someone that is fairly closer to your age, and she is just an overall very wise person. On many occasions, I was able to let my guard down and really have a lot of trust in Dr. Harrington whether I was going through an academic situation or maybe something at home. That has to be one of the most important qualities to look for in a good teacher; someone who shows that they care about you and open up their own time in order to give you a helping hand.


A great teacher should be intelligent, open minded, funny, stylish, and above all caring and compassionate. There are simply no better words to describe Dr. Harrington. I think that she is extremely worthy of winning The Educator of the Year Award, because of her knowledge and her great organizational skills. In my eyes, Dr. Jennifer Harrington will always be remembered as the best math teacher ever!