Teachers are all around us, influencing their students.  I’m not just saying that because I’m typing this in school. Even before a person’s first day of preschool, children are taught how to walk and talk by their parents. Even though “teacher” was most likely not their job description, parents still managed to teach you life lessons such as strong morals, rules, how to ride a bike, safety, and the list goes on.Parents are usually life teachers while your teachers at school teach you their subject areas in order to help prepare you to pursue a career.However, there always seems to be that one teacher whose memory sticks with you not due to the information you’ve learned, but because of their personality. This is the case of Ms. McGinnis.

She was my band instructor in middle school at Merton, so I naturally learned about music. I learned about cooperation and how be a better listener. I also learned how to cope with lugging around a huge trumpet all day. These are all things I do daily now and I don’t think I would have stuck to trumpet long if McGinnis wasn’t there for me.

Being a teacher of an elective class during a recession was rough compared to content teachers.Ms. McGinnis had to constantly fight to keep the Merton Jazz Band as part of the curriculum. (she actually admitted this). Not only was the funding a problem, but also the meeting times. The jazz meetings were either before school - resulting in many late kids - or on Thursdays after school, when everyone seems to have something going on. Yet during my entire stay at Merton, she stayed in school and got to the practices and rehearsals on time.

In terms of her personality, she was a kind and generous teacher. This showed both through the way she acted and the way she taught. No matter how bad a student struggled to  play an instrument, when she tested you, she always found a way to compliment or encourage you. When we weren’t practicing or testing, we were usually on field trips, one of which was to Minneapolis! Okay, so we were going there for a performance, but she made sure that 90% of the trip was unhindered fun.

Not afraid to be quirky, she let the jazz band make their own skits and videos to show alongside the music (from what I’ve heard, some of it is on YouTube now). She also let the jazz band wear whatever we wanted whenever we went to the Christmas Tree Lighting in Merton. She stated that she let them do this every year, and one person had come wrapped up in working christmas lights! Afterwards, we would always go get pizza. “Sometimes, people just walk out of the restaurant when they see what we’re wearing.” She would claim.

Another admirable trait - and perhaps the one I admire the most - was her toughness. She had to be tougher than your average teacher in order to stay in business, and you could even tell just from her proud voice - which was as energetic and enthusiastic as if she was talking about her favorite thing.hat she was confident enough for the job. If that would not convince you, you probably never heard of the time that she got hit by a car. It was a February night, colder and darker than a shut freezer, and she had pulled over and gotten out of her car to inspect a car crash she had seen, only to be hit by another car, the driver of which’s identity is still unknown. The front of her skull was left in fragments and had to had to be completely remade, this time out of titanium. It’s a miracle she survived. This may sound like some sort of playground rumor but it actually happened! Ms. McGinnis even joked that she will have a lot of trouble going through airport security with her metal face. She looks and acts the same as she did before the painful experience, which goes to show that one can bounce back

Despite her toughness, she doesn’t really look that “tough”. She is somewhat taller than a 6th grader and has pale blonde hair. No offense to her, though. She is one of the few people I know who looks as friendly as they are, and McGinnis was as friendly as a relative. For all these reasons, I am nominating Ms. McGinnis for Teacher of the Year.