Math was never my strong suit. Many people can say that, but not everyone can say someone helped them change it. For me, that person was Mr. Byrne, my 6th, 7th and 8th grade math teacher at North Lake School.
Mr. Byrne was the teacher known around the school, he was everyone’s favorite. But my first time meeting him wasn’t my first day of sixth grade--it was well before that. I met him in the summer when he tutored my brother and me in math. We would ride our bikes to the school and meet him in his classroom a few days out of the week.
I was excited to go because he would do more than what he was paid to do. For example, one day, my brother went to tutoring without me and it started raining, so instead of my brother biking home in the rain, Mr. Byrne gave him a ride home while he held his bike out the window. It was just the kind of thing he would think of.
Then sixth grade came--and once again he was my teacher. I figured it would be the same old thing every teacher did: times tables and worksheets, but he surprised every single one of us. He would do math games inside and outside the classroom. It was almost like he was tricking us to learn. We would do memory games and trivia inside, and outside we would play math baseball, math dodgeball, and math kickball.  Many people would ask how could you possibly incorporate math into those games? Well, Mr. Byrne found a way. In math dodge ball, every time you got out, you would have to do a quick worksheet, then check with him to get back in. In math kickball and math baseball, every base you would have to get a problem right before you could move on.
He was by far my favorite teacher and made math my favorite subject, which is especially hard to do at 12 years old. He would always find a way to surprise us, even with everything he was going through. At the time, his wife was very sick, in the process of getting a lung transplant, trying to take care of two kids, but he still remained positive through it all. Sometimes even bringing his kids to work and calling his wife to make sure she’s doing alright.
Mr. Byrne is a role model and still is to this day. He’s the sweetest and most selfless man I’ve ever met. I’m so grateful for everything he has done and is still doing. I think everyone should recognize what he does and how amazing he is at his job. Thank you for being the best math teacher I could ever ask for.