My eighth grade year was an interesting one. Everyone was excited because we were the big dogs. The entire student body looked up to us because we were THE eighth graders. For some it was an easy year, but for others, such as myself, there were some rough patches along the way. Since I was in 8th grade, the test levels were stepped up a notch in preparation for high school. I hadn't figured this out until my first test which was on books we read over the summer. This is where my year began.


My year in that class didn’t start off as well as I had planned. We had to take a test on the books we were assigned to for summer reading. I’ve long forgotten the names of these two books, but will never forget the grades. Let’s just say that it wasn’t the best place to start. After that, I knew it would be a long, uphill climb from there.

But unfortunately, to my disadvantage, I was a slacker. Now everyone has their own study habits. Some study for hours, days, even weeks. But I, on the other hand, was the do all the work in class and that was enough, type of guy. This inspired me to change for the better. I was done with getting B's, it was time to step it up. So, I did, by doing a little every night along with the work in class and homework. But I was still at a B, which frustrated me beyond belief.

Now let me tell you something about Mrs. McNutt. She is probably the most live-spirited, fascinating and crazy person you’ll ever meet. After walking out of my first class I was like, “Wow, that was different…” She had this way of speaking to us like she was one of us, and everyone enjoyed it.





This next part was the highlight of my year. We had this gigantic English test coming up, worth 100 points, which is huge. By this time, I was tired of getting B’s, I wanted an A. So, I did all the work in class, studied like my life depended on it, and took the test. Walking out I had felt confident I did a good job. A few days later, it was time to get them back and, naturally, I was nervous. As I walked up to get my test, I see a look of disapproval on her face and she says, “What happened?” The next thing she did confused me because she slapped a sticker on the front and handed it to me. And written there in red ink was an A! She had played a cruel trick on me, and I finally conquered her tests. So, because of this and many other occasions, I've decided to nominate Mrs. Theresa McNutt for the Educator of the Year Award. She has not only shown to be a brilliant educator, but also a friend.