he entirety of high school has been an interesting journey for me. I came from a little, private Catholic school in Hartland called St. Charles. The school probably has around 300 students in it. The graduating class of my eighth-grade year was 30 and the only friends I had were those kids and a few others I knew from different middle schools around the area. 

I came into my freshman year only knowing a few other people from my school that were now going to my current high school Arrowhead. I was doing well until Covid hit which completely threw me off track because I dreaded virtual learning. Everything about it was terrible and my grades plummeted even to the point of failing Science 9 freshman year. 

Fast forward to junior year and I had my hardest set of classes. Two AP courses and other rigorous classes. I struggled the entire year, and I felt like it was the hardest year of my entire life I had no motivation and I was constantly feeling stressed.

Since I failed science freshman year I had yet to make it up. So I was put into a credit recovery class to make up that science credit. This is when I met Mrs. Cull. I was extremely skeptical at first because none of my friends were in the class. So I was very quiet and was often silent. 

I remember Mrs. Cull being very laid back and the class felt very relaxed. As the semester went on I would gradually start talking to her more and more about everything. She would always listen to me complain about how much I hated Ap Psych and how it was making school so stressful. She would always give me good advice and try to solve some of my issues in class. I felt like I could talk to her about anything whether it was school or stuff that was going on in my life. 

The rest of the semester I would periodically stop in and say hi or stop in to talk about whatever. She was always willing to listen to me every time I came in. I feel like having someone to talk to drastically changed my mood that semester and just my outlook on the school in general. Often if I needed to do other homework she would let me do it because she knew that it was important. Mrs. Cull would try to help with some assignments as well even if she wasn’t familiar with the material. She made it extremely transparent that me and other kids in the class were going to graduate. I was never in a spot where I was worried about graduation but I know that other kids were, and when she would tell us that I feel like it gave the rest of us motivation to finish our credit and get on with the rest of school.

These reasons are why I'm writing about Mrs. Cull. Her impact on me throughout these past two years has been significant. Even though I don’t have class anymore with her, I still come in to talk to her about something when I feel like I need to because I know that she will listen to me. I can’t think of another teacher that I could do that with. So what I would like to say to Mrs. Cull is thank you for everything that you’ve done for me.