Mentor Quote- Maria Contreras

“I don’t know why you choose AP English because you are not in the level of this class” words that in that moment was one of the teachers I didn’t like the most but now is the teacher i thank the most for helping me and never letting me down.

After I came back from Mexico, English wasn’t my strongest language and reading and writing was a challenge throughout the years. Every school year I worked hard to not fall behind. In my sophomore year, the English class wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. I wanted to challenge myself and I applied to take AP English for my junior year. However summer before junior year wasn’t my best and I was going through a difficult moment. Mr Hernandez who that year will be my teacher was very lenient to his expectations for his class. I will do my writing assignments and for him they weren’t the best. There was always a negative comment on my writing. I will “try” because to be honest, I know I wasn’t trying enough, to give better writing assignments. Until one day, I was not only tired of my own personal problems that were affecting , but also of the poor comments I will get in my work. I walked up to my English teacher and I asked him what kind of work he wanted for me to get a good grade. And he answered, “the same work I ask from your other classmates, look, They come to class, they pay attention, ask for help. Maria I don’t know why you chose AP English because you are not in the level of this class and maybe consider dropping this class.” At first I got mad, because I felt I was in the right. I was giving him quality work. But as the weeks went on, I told myself I wasn’t going to let him think I didn’t deserve to be in his class. My attitude and ignorance didn’t notice that during the first 4 months all Mr. Hernandez was doing it for me to keep trying and become better. His comments weren’t as negative as I thought they were. I started to work and to not give up. I remember giving him an essay days before my birthday. But this time I told myself I wasn’t going to let the comments affect me. A day after my birthday he gave us our work back and when i went to pick up my essay, all he said was “read the comments and happy belated birthday”. I was confused until I saw my grade. I got a 3 on my essay and the comments weren’t as bad as before. I couldn’t believe I got a high score after so many months. I continue to work and this time ask for his help like the rest. I wanted to continue learning but this time I proved to myself that I can do better if I put the dedication to my work.

Teacher appreciation week arrived, and I took that opportunity to write Mr Hernandez a letter. I mentioned how excited I was to join his class but how his negative comments affected me at that time. How I felt when he said I didn’t deserve to be in his class . I also mentioned how I noticed he only wanted me to improve my skills, and how at the end I was lucky to have him as my teacher and that I was thankful for all his advice. A week later, he told me to stay after class because he wanted to talk to me. He later told me that out of all his 90 students that he has helped, not a single one of them took their time to write a letter. He said that he didn’t mean to say things to affect me but to make me a better student because he knew I was capable of giving better work. After that day Mr Hernandez continued on helping me with better techniques for me to understand. Throughout my senior year he continued to help. I will go during my lunch period to his office to also help him with our Pre Med slc since not only was he an English teacher but also our Pre med director. The last day of school, he told me to never forget the things he taught me and if I ever needed help just to email him. Mr Hernandez saw I had potential, I just was not focused.