On my first day of eighth grade at Skyline Middle School after a few classes my schedule had English written on it for my fourth period class. When I entered the room, I noticed a teacher that I never recognized before in my 6th and 7th grade years. She settled down the class and introduced herself and mentioned her name was Aiza McCollum, but she expected us to call her Mrs. McCollum. After a couple weeks of school, I started really becoming close with Mrs. McCollum. I noticed that she was very calm, cool, and collected, and I admired that. She was unlike other teachers I had in the past; she was different compared to all of them.

Kids don’t always love all of their teachers, but with her it was different. Once Mrs. Mccollum was in your presence, everything just felt more safe. Of course all teachers raise their voice, but Mrs. McCollum only raised her voice when she needed to, which was not very often. What I admired about Mrs. McCollum is if you’re caught not doing some specific task you were assigned to do, there were consequences, some major some minor, but either way Mrs. McCollum had consequences but never got to the point where you started to dislike her. Mrs. McCollum also always knew when it’s the right time to interact with her students, and when it’s the right time to get her students settled so that a new lesson could be taught. Plus, she always operated it in a calm manner which was always very admirable and still is today.

  One afternoon a couple of friends and I deciding to ask Mrs. McCollum if we could eat lunch with her, and she told us if we were well behaved, then we could come down to her classroom for lunch. Ever since that first lunch with Mrs. McCollum we became her lunch group, and we went to her classroom for lunch whenever we could; that’s another reason why I admire Mrs. McCollum so much because she always found time for her students, and yet she had a personal life too. Not everyday we got to eat lunch with Mrs. McCollum because of course like with everyone things came up, and things happen in life, but for sure every lunch we had with her was like it was our last, and they were always full of laughter, full of fun, and full of relaxation.

  Guidance counselors are supposed to help students with problems, concerns, new school options, and many more situations, but many students including myself didn't always feel safe talking to guidance counselors as we did with Mrs. McCollum. She was always there for her students, and she always gave the best advice if you had any problems, and she always knew how to calm us down; it even got to the point where some students would ask to go to her class if they were feeling a little angry or anything, and she helped a lot of us through tough situations. We helped her too. We helped her out with anything she needed like we volunteered to sweep her floors, wipe her desks, help her sort out papers, etc. because she always took time out of her day to help students, so we always found time to help her with anything she needed.

  I will always love Mrs. McCollum and care for Ms. McCollum and cherish the moments I had in eighth grade with her because you don’t always find teachers like her. I nominate her for the TeenInk Educator of the Year reward because if I could go back to the first day where I met Mrs. McCollum and start my eighth grade year again, I most definitely would.