My English teacher Daniel McBride is deserving of recognition. Having graduated from Stanford University, he is the smartest person in any room and has dedicated his life to sharing his plethora of knowledge. He goes above and beyond the AP English curriculum to expose us to literary excellence such as Iliad, Oedipus, and other exemplary books. True to the English teacher cliché, he is very passionate about grammar. Almost every class he devotes a chunk of time to studying sentence diagramming, oxford commas, relative clauses, and the like. One of his characteristics that I respect is his incredible patience. Many a time have students not read the assigned pages or written their homework but he has never lost his temper or asserted his authority. In my experience, teachers like this are few and far between.

One of my fondest memories from my high school career is from last year. We were tasked with writing a story of any genre, then adapting said story into a short movie with a few classmates. The following week we regrouped and had a mini film fest to watch all of our creations. I seldom have the opportunity to express myself creatively in school, and this unorthodox teaching method was a refreshing change of pace. Another time, he brought in his electric guitar and sang some of his original songs. If he did not seem cool enough already, he is a member of a band, too.

Next year will be my third year enrolled in his class because I simply cannot imagine myself with a different teacher. I wish there were more educators in the world like Mr. McBride because he has opened my eyes to many new things and has made school enjoyable.