On my first day of class at Arrowhead High School, I still remember what class I was most nervous about - geometry. I knew none of my friends would be in that class, and there wouldn’t be many freshmen, mainly sophomores. But as soon as I stepped into Mrs. Obermann’s classroom, she gave me a warm welcome and asked how I was. 

I said “Hi, I’m okay, nervous for the first day, though. How about yourself?” 

She told me, “I’m great. And you have nothing to be nervous about.” 

It really made me feel welcome. She also knew my sister and asked about how she was doing, which made me nervous because my sister and I are complete opposites. (My sister was popular and a handful, and I’m not popular, quiet and pretty well behaved.) I was scared she was going to think we were the same and treat us like the same kid, because that has happened in the past with other teachers. But she treated me like my own person and we really bonded over The Office. One of her classes even made her a Dundie (it’s an award from the show), which I thought was so cool. She really deserved it too because of how easy she made math. 

She had a policy where if you didn’t have time to complete the homework, then you could turn it in before the end of the unit with full credit. I appreciated this. She understood that we had other classes and activities and she didn’t want us to stress over getting the one geometry assignment done. 

She would make sure everyone was comfortable asking questions in class. She would answer questions in a way that would make us feel proud of taking the risk of asking the question. If anyone said anything about how a question was stupid, she would instantly stick up for them, saying there is no stupid questions. 

She also told us about a kid who didn’t ask for help because he said, “only stupid kids ask for help.” She told him asking for help is one of the smartest things a kid can do when they don’t understand something. It made me feel better about asking for help, and it’s okay if I don’t understand something. What matters is that I find a way to understand it - whether I ask a question or come in for help. 

Mrs. Obermann would let me come into her room during my seventh hour study hall because I didn’t like the big cafetera study hall. She would let me work on whatever I wanted as long as it was class work. She not only helped me with my two math classes, but she also helped me with my science homework too - I would explain the project and what I needed her help and she would always clear things up and give me the equations to solve the problem. I was always excited for study hall because I knew if needed help on anything, Mrs.Obermann would do everything she could to help. It was admirable for her to take time out of her day to help me with a class she didn’t teach. She didn’t care what I needed help on, she would always do as much as she could to help. 

Not only did she care about every kid in her classes, but she also cared about her two daughters. She would show us pictures of them and talk about the cute things they did this week - like how they called high school “big kid school.” 

Mrs. Obermann is someone I really look up to and want to be like in the future. She truly cares for each student that walks into the door and does her best to help them. She has a job that she loves and wouldn’t trade it for anything. She will always be in my heart and will forever be my favorite math teacher.