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May 10, 2007

The power of one

NSBA's Past President Jane Gallucci shared a story of an amazing teacher during her remarks at NSBA's Annual Conference in San Francisco last month. This story comes from U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), whom she heard speak at a New York State School Boards Association breakfast at NSBA's Federal Relations Network Conference in Washington, D.C.

In her youth, Rep. McCarthy had always wanted to be a nurse because she’d had a boyfriend who was seriously ill, and she knew she wanted to make a difference. But Carolyn found that she couldn’t pass the math course she needed to get into nursing school. She took the class over and over every year up to her senior year in high school, but she still couldn’t pass it. During her senior year, she got Mr. Reinhart as her teacher. Mr. Reinhart got to know Carolyn and knew how much she wanted to be a nurse. He worked with her and encouraged her. He even affectionately nicknamed her Cookie.


She worked hard and took the final, but when she finished, she knew she had not passed. Then, Mr. Reinhart stepped in. He called her up to his desk and told Carolyn that he knew she knew the math, even though her test didn’t reflect it. Carolyn was one of those students that we all have in our districts who was just terrible at taking tests. Mr. Reinhart saw something special in Carolyn and passed her anyway.

Carolyn went on to go to nursing school and achieved her dream of becoming an RN. One night, while on duty as a charge nurse, she received a patient on her floor who had had a heart attack and was brought into the hospital dead on arrival. The doctors had revived him, but he didn’t have much hope of survival. However, the man did hang on until the morning, only to have another cardiac arrest. Throughout the night, Carolyn used all her nursing skills to try to save her patient.

When the patient woke in the morning, he later told Carolyn that he saw an angel come to him and save him. He looked up into her face and said, “Cookie, you are my angel.” Carolyn looked back at him and said, “Yes, Mr. Reinhart, I saved your life. And now I think we’re even.”

One teacher can make a difference--imagine the difference all of them can make. Tell us the story of your one teacher by leaving a comment.

Posted May 10, 2007 12:43 PM | Teachers

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