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Story Honoring Carolyn McDaniel

By: Peyton McDanielcarolyn-mcdaniel-story
Student, Meadowview Middle School, Hamblen County

“Do you have your homework done?” Most kids have heard that question from a teacher, but I have probably heard questions and comments from a teacher that most kids have never heard. Questions such as , “Do you have your basketball clothes?” or “Do I need to pack you a lunch today?” or on my slower mornings, the occasional “If you are not walking out the door in five minutes, you can walk to school!” That is because the teacher that has had the most impact on my life is also my mother. She has impacted my life in many different ways. First, she is always going the extra mile for students. Second, she is the coordinator for many different extracurricular activities. Finally, she is an all-star mom!

She is by far one of the hardest workers at my school: she works extra hours almost every single day of school. She works from seven in the morning to five o’clock in the afternoon every day, for various reasons. Her top priority is for students to excel academically. That is why she runs a tutoring program for all students in the morning and afternoon. Whether a student needs help in Algebra, has gotten behind in science, or wants a good place to hang out with other academically driven students, my mom opens her arms to them. She is the most caring individual I have ever met. Outside of that tutoring program, she has a twenty-four hour tutoring session for me at home, and she does not even get paid for that! My mom has a passion for students to excel in education, and that has driven me to try my hardest when it comes to academics or any other activity I am involved in. Also, she brings fun inside the school. You could say, she makes the school house rock.

There is a reason students flock to my mother. I attend a very culturally and racially diverse school. However, students, white, African American, Hispanic, or any other color, are drawn to my mother. That is because she makes school an exciting place to be. She is involved in volleyball, Beta Club, and even the school musicals. This year, her volleyball team that I played on only lost two games the whole season! Getting middle school girls to cooperate and get along can often be a tough thing to do, but we all love her and want to play our best for her. She just smiles the whole game, until we start day dreaming at least!

My mom is also involved in everything imaginable in Beta Club. For two months before the state Beta convention, she stays after school to quiz her science bowl student, perfect her speech contest candidate, and she tackles the impossible feat of teaching sixty middle school kids a six minute song and dance. Sometimes she will just hop on stage and dance with us! It’s not easy to teach a thirteen year old boy with two left feet to dance, but the performances always come off as a success. She also is the director of my school’s spring musical. She goes through a very long process to get this accomplished. She hold auditions, casts parts, and then schedules two months worth of rehearsals. She makes sure the set is built, and sometimes the most tedious task, she works with all of the children’s parents. However, none of these are as important as being the best mom ever!

My mom does all of these things at school, but no one has ever considered her a workaholic. She is at every sporting event, musical performance, choir concert, or any other activity one of her three kids participate in. Any time one of us receives an award, she is there cheering us on. She is an extraordinary mom. Also, the same hands that grade other students’ papers fix my dinner, and boy can those hands cook! She has impacted my life in so many different ways. Most importantly, she makes sure we are at church every Sunday and Wednesday. She has molded me into the person I am today.

There is probably no other student at my school that can say an educator has influenced their life like mine has. She never makes us do anything we do not want to do, but always encourages us to do the right thing. I like to think of her as the MVMT, Most Valuable Mother-Teacher.

My mom is a jack of many trades. She is a remarkable teacher, an awesome coach, a top rate director, and most importantly the best mother a girl could ever ask for. She has shown me that helping others is a necessity in life. Also, she has taught me that life should be fun, and she has sure made mine a blast! Furthermore, she has built me into a young woman with morals and character. She has taught me that a woman can be independent, and that it is a good thing. It is nice having a teacher at my house every day, but let’s just say I will never walk out of the house breaking the dress code!