By the time high school started, I forgot about my love to sing. I had been worn out from others, including my middle school choir teacher, telling me I sounded terrible and I wasn’t good enough. But when my counselor told me, “Take choir. Even if you don’t like singing, it’s an easy A,” I shrugged and walked out of the office with Treble Choir written on my schedule.

I remember walking into the choir room the first day of my sophomore year. I will get through this, I told myself. I just need the art credit. 

However, the room suddenly felt lighter and brighter when Mrs. Bielski sauntered into the room with a smile. “Hello! Hello!” she said happily. Her dark bob bounced with her head as she made sure to welcome everyone who entered the room. At first I was stunned. How could a teacher be so happy on the first day of school? All my other teachers were average in the way they greeted us, the way they walked, and the way they taught. Mrs. Bielski had something special about her – a certain pep and liveliness in everything she did.

Just in the first week, I saw my love for music and singing growing more and more. Mrs. Bielski made that happen. She made me feel like an individual even in a class of 50 to 60 girls. I could tell she loved teaching us by the way she talked and even played the piano. Yes, I could tell she liked teaching us by playing the piano. Throughout the first week, she had us learn everyone’s name in the class which I personally think is a really cool idea for a teacher to do.

I thought her peppy attitude would end after a couple weeks, like most teachers teaching teenagers, but it never did. Every single day, she’d welcome us into the room with her usual, “Hello! Hello!” and play the warm ups on the piano. 

When we’d practice songs, she’s shout over the piano, “This sounds so magical!” or “You have no idea how amazing you sound!” It was incredible to receive those kinds of real complements.

Another thing that I love about Mrs. Bielski is how she lets anyone try out for solos and small groups and whether they’re nervous or not, will encourage them and lift them up. That is the model all teachers should follow. She actually impacted me to become a teacher and I want to be just like her when I do.

Only a month into school, Mrs. Bielski had helped me by indirectly being my musical therapist. She made me remember my passion for singing and how I shouldn’t let anyone silence me. 

Music was and still is a coping method for me. When I walked in the classroom, my worries disappeared. Mrs. Bielski should take all the credit for diffusely helping me with that. She has no idea she helped me, but I am ecstatic to tell her now in this essay.

After the year ended, I was crushed because it meant I wouldn’t be able to have Treble Choir again. However, when we were able to pick classes for the next year, the very first class I added was North Concert Choir. In the beginning, I took choir to get the art credit, but in the end, I wanted to move onto North Concert Choir as a junior and senior just so I could improve my singing and have one of the best teachers teach me.