Story Honoring Mrs. Susan Denning
By: Randall Kirby
Teachers play a very important role in our society. That role is they teach the future generations the subjects that they need to know to excel in life. However, they also teach us something more important than English, math, history, or any other subject. They teach us about the lessons of life. These lessons are best taught by these people because during the school day we spend more time with them than anyone. One of the best teachers to teach these lessons was Mrs. Susan Denning. Unfortunately, she passed away recently, but before she died she taught me and many other students these important lessons.
One important lesson she taught me was to push myself beyond my normal limits. Mrs. Denning died because she lost her fight with cancer. However, before she died she did many things other people in her condition couldn’t do. Between her chemo therapy and taking her medication she still found the time to make her lessons fun and interesting. This inspired me because the medicine and her treatments would totally wipe her out, but she still would find a way to complete all these things. It is this type of perseverance that made Mrs. Denning a great teacher. This perseverance also leads to loyalty.
Mrs. Denning inspired me with her loyalty to our school because she taught here for a very long time. She taught here so long that she taught my mom and both of her siblings. Throughout her many years of employment here at TCHS, Mrs. Denning never once to my knowledge let her students down. I had her for two years and she never let us down. No matter the circumstances or the subject she showed her loyalty to the school and her students by teaching and explaining material to the best of her ability. This loyalty to the school and her students was also shown by the students’ test scores. To the best of my knowledge, none of her students failed any of the state’s tests. All of this loyalty then leads to her dedication.
The greatest trait that she had was her dedication. Between her perseverance and loyalty, the dedication Mrs. Denning showed is easy to describe. Those two traits together create the perfect example of dedication. As I said before, she fought with her cancer and taught at the same time; however, she also tried her hardest to schedule her treatments around school and teaching us because of her treatments. Before she died, she even said that she was more worried of her absence hurting her students rather than her illness. She was so dedicated that she would rather be here at school teaching her students rather than the hospital where she has a slight chance of getting better. This is one of the most important traits to give to anyone.
Teachers are not only entrusted with the responsibility of teaching their students but also given the opportunity to inspire them to do better in life. Mrs. Denning took advantage of every opportunity she saw to inspire her students. In many cases, such as my own, she succeeded in inspiring them. Her perseverance taught me that even if the odds are against you, you should keep fighting for your goal. She fought through her cancer and treatments to give her students everything we needed. Her loyalty to the school and her students inspires me to remain loyal to anyone who trusts me. Finally, her determination has taught me to be more involved and focused on any project that I start. These three traits are great lessons to have in life. Once we are on our own in the world, we will be grateful that we learned these traits and to the person that taught them to us.
