The Stan “the Man” Musial Award. I still remember it. Somewhere, I bet, my mom still has it.

It was the end of 7^th grade, and our teacher, a St. Louis Cardinals fan, was giving out awards to the class for the year. I remember thinking there’s no way I get an award, and I remember being really sad about it.

I had a few rough years in middle school. Constantly in detention, sometimes suspended, and a regular of the assistant principals office, getting all C’s with an occasional B. I look back on it now and can only imagine what kind of difficulty I was for my teachers and administrators.

It was towards the end of this makeshift awards ceremony, when I knew without a doubt that I wasn’t getting an award, that my teacher called my name. She gave some speech about how Stan Musial, the hall of fame baseball player, was a stand up guy and that he loved people, and that he was a special individual. I thought to myself “She thinks I am like that?”.

Here’s someone, who I’ve made upset all year, who found positive qualities in me despite all I’ve put her through. I was shocked and surprised, but most of all I believed that I could change and really be those things she described. She saw things in me before I knew they were there.

This was just one of many moments that I can remember where a teacher impacted my life. Whether it was helping me cope with my parents divorce or my mom’s illness, in some way a teacher helped me out.

For the first 6 months of my time at my host company New Urban Learning, a charter school management company, I was working as a data analyst.

While the role was vastly important and crucial to the success of the school, I missed being in an actual school environment. I miss having direct impact on student’s life, much like I did when I worked for City Year.

That changed however, when I switched roles within my organization to an operations manager. In this role I work with teachers and principals on a daily basis, along with other educators that are working to make a difference in Detroit’s education.

This change has reminded me of inspiring and hard working people in education are. Not a day goes by that I see a teacher, or principal, or dean of students, make a positive impact in a child’s life, some big some small, but all meaningful.