For my first two years of high school, I had noticed the change in attitude and values from the teachers from middle school. 

There was no room for fun and a lot of the teachers just weren’t pleasant people.

Both of my older brothers had gone to Arrowhead and said how North Campus was a lot better than South. My first day at North it was going fine and most of the teachers were nice because it was the first day of school, but Mrs. Passler stood out. I walked in and she had a big smile on her face already and was greeting every student. She seemed like she genuinely cared about her students even though she didn’t really know them yet. 

She valued our health and well being above assignments and due dates. 

I really started to notice her sympathy for students when we had due dates for things. She understood that we have seven other classes and can’t always get to everything. She would always compromise and discuss when we wanted the due date to be so that we didn’t get stressed out. A common question from her was “tell me what you guys need.” It wasn’t about getting the work done, it was getting it done with the time we needed without stressing.

She wouldn’t start talking about the lesson right away in class either, and would have some type of mindfulness activity for us to do to give us a mental break. Although this was a small thing I think that it was important for a lot of students. It was nice to come in the 5th hour and have a few minutes to take a break. She also made learning the content of the class really easy with her energetic teaching style. She went through everything slowly and always answered your questions in depth. If I were struggling with class work or anything else I could always talk to her about it and she gladly helped me out.

Mrs. Passler gave me a different perspective on learning and how it can be fun. She gave us all the tools to be successful students and I am grateful for it everyday. Thank you Mrs. Passler!