This year, MEA received dozens of submissions for the annual My Hero Works in School essay contest. Each year, it is a highlight for us to read about the lasting impact Maine educators have on students’ lives, told through students’ own perspectives.
This year’s My Hero Works in School contest winners are Alexa P. of Bangor High School, who wrote about her teacher, Mrs. Elz Hammond, and Quinn B., who wrote about her teacher, Mrs. Baughman. Please read their essays below.
The two students and their school heroes were honored on the field at the Portland Sea Dogs game on June 21. Congratulations to all!
Gaining My Voice
I walked in on the first day of high school fully blind, having never met any of my classmates in my life. Having moved from a small town in Central Maine, it was difficult to imagine meeting hundreds of new people. I used to be very vocal and outgoing, but walking into that ginormous space made me feel like I had lost my voice.
On that same day I met my new theatre teacher, Mrs Elz Hammond. I’ve always taken a high interest in the performing arts. I grew up dancing and singing and putting on short plays for my family. It’s my one true passion. She is a shorter woman with an infectious laugh with short blonde hair. She insisted all her theatre students call her Elz instead, as it felt more natural. She
speaks so passionately and confidently about her craft, that it makes you feel the same way. She has a way of lecturing that makes you just want to listen, and I do. I stayed in her class that
entire year, and learned things that proved to be incredibly useful to me.
Besides being an amazing teacher, she is a great mentor and trustee as well. She has helped me with personal problems I am having inside and outside of her classroom. She is a great person to talk to and seems to always know just the perfect things to say and how to listen. She has a funny way of seeming to always know the answer, which is extremely
admirable to me.
Starting the year made me feel like I had lost my voice. But joining her and her joyful energy she brings to the class, the craft, and the lifestyle of that classroom, gave me the ability to speak.
Alexa P. Bangor
Mrs. Baughman is my hero
Mrs Baughman is such an amazing 4th grade teacher. She is smart, funny, and she is also very patient with all her students. Being in her class is the best, she always makes everything fun.
One of my reasons why I chose her as my hero is because I used to get really bored doing work but when I got to 4th grade I loved it. Two of my favorite things we did this year was Greek mythology. We had a Greek mythology party with games and other fun things. My other favorite thing we did this year was natural disasters, we made giant posters and played natural disasters charades.
My second reason I chose her as my hero is because she is patient with all her students, especially the boys, who run around and talk with their friends during class, but the girls aren’t always innocent either.
This is why I chose her as my hero because she is my favorite teacher in this school. So she should get an award for being the best teacher ever, and I hope she will continue to teach for others and make them happy.
Quinn B. Thomaston
