Teachers Describe The One Student They'll Never Forget

While underpaid and challenging, teaching can be one of the most deeply rewarding professions in the world, not just because of the opportunity to teach others what we know, but because of what we might be able to teach them that extends beyond the classroom.

What many teachers often don't share about their journeys through the profession are those students who leave behind a particularly special mark. Until today.

Curious, Redditor SingLikeTinaTurner asked:

"Teachers of Reddit: Who is that one student you will never forget?"

For The Love Of Learning

"My first year of teaching, I was in a very disadvantaged middle school that had a rough reputation and, as a teacher, you were dealing with behaviors every day."

"About two months into the year, this little guy shows up one day. He was a new student who was about a head shorter than the rest of the kids, was dressed like a little adult, carrying his books in front of him, and had the biggest smile ever."

"He spoke almost no English but sat in the very front of my classroom and meticulously copied down everything I wrote and ignored all the off-task behaviors. I worked with him the best I could with my limited Spanish I learned in high school."

"About six years later, I got a random email from him, letting me know that he had graduated high school and was going to Stanford and that I had an incredibly profound effect on his love of learning and thanked me for being so helpful and accommodating with him."

- SaulTNNutz

Hero Of The School

"I had an eighth-grade boy who was a happy-go-lucky goof who was more little kid than young teen. Because he was immature, he got picked on all the time and he'd be upset and near tears but still smiling. I had to intervene for him and rip into several students over it. I worried so much about him."

"In his sophomore year, my then-husband noticed he was small and recruited him to fill the 103-weight class on the wrestling team. He joined the team and was actually pretty good. He made it to states all three years he was on the team. The team gave him a safe place to belong, and the bigger boys looked after him."

"The best moment, though, came during his senior year. The school invited the other county high school's team over for an exhibition match during the school day. I was so nervous for him because I knew he'd have to wrestle a tough a**hole in front of the whole school. I didn't want to see him thrashed in front of everyone after he'd come so far. I needn't have worried, though."

"He went out on that mat and absolutely thumped the jerk. He owned him at every turn and finally got a dramatic pin. The gym exploded with cheering that went on and on. He was 100% the hero of the school that day. Students talked about it for a week."

"That kid had my heart back in middle school, and it still brings tears to my eyes to think of how it turned out for him."

- mustbethedragon

A Heartbreaking Impression

"A brilliant, sweet kind girl who would call out 'bless you!' to anyone sneezing, even if they were passing by out in the hall."

"She was the top student and very responsible. Very charismatic. Would speak out on behalf of injustice. She won every public speaking contest."

"I ran an RPG creative writing game and she wrote stories at about a grade nine level (she was in grade five). She took to wearing her glasses on a chain around her neck and wearing cardigans because I did."

"We were excited to follow her growth and always thought she'd become Prime Minister one day, but she died of cancer in grade nine. It was absolutely heartbreaking. I'll never forget her or her lovely family."

- Middle_Crazy_126

Hilarious Moments In The Classroom

"I honestly have so many unforgettables."

"A little boy who had lived his whole life in a refugee camp and had never in his life held crayons or scissors in his hands, beaming like a joyous little lightbulb, utterly thrilled to be in Canada and in school."

"A little United Emirates girl who all but worshipped and always obeyed teachers, when told by my very dyslexic self to "put away your lunch and eat your books", stared at me in confusion, was clearly seriously considering obeying but timidly wanting to double check, asked, 'Teacher, WHAT you said?'"

"And a Chinese student about to experience his first snowfall, who, when advised that it probably wouldn't stay on the ground, asked in genuine scientific bewilderment, 'How far off the ground will it stay?'"

- dogsledonice

The Sweetest Wish

"I asked my students what do they want to become after 10 years. A lot of them answered their desired career and profession, but one student's answer stood the most to me: 'I just want to be happy.' Oh, how we all do."

- ToughCraft8677

"We had an exercise for parents at my kids' nursery school. Choose out of 50 positive words 5 you'd like most to see your kid be (or something along those lines) and discuss your reasoning."

"People chose words like, 'kind, adventurous, resilient, courageous, generous, understanding,' and so on. One of the words available was 'Happy.' Not one of us, including me, chose it."

"I brought it up in our discussion. I said, 'Isn't it interesting that none of us chose 'happy', but when you ask most parents, one of the main things they want for their kids is to have a happy life, or be happy? That's weird, none of us pulled that one out.'"

"They all just staired at me, like I said farting is a life skill."

- Bob-Bhlaba-esq

A Safe Environment

"I had a student, years later, tell me my classroom made them feel safe. Apparently, they’d been going through stuff I didn’t even realize at the time, but my room was one place they knew they could just be themselves."

"They were always someone I was going to remember, but the moment they told me that was so impactful I can’t forget them."

- teresedanielle

A Positive Influence

"I keep in touch with a lot of my students (taught high school), but my first year I taught a student with severe anxiety."

"They had to wear a hat for comfort and to feel safe. Their goal was to present to the class without the hat by the end of the year."

"They did it and they slowly stopped wearing the hat altogether. They said I gave them the confidence to do so and gifted me a painting. It’s still hanging on my wall 12 years later."

"They made me realize I could really do this and be a positive influence on young lives."

- Agile_Donut_

A Promising New Start

"I once had a student easily in her 70s who was looking for a career change and wanted to become a nurse."

"She let me know that she had won a 'Miss St. Paul Senior' beauty contest, and during introductions on the first day of class, recited poetry (I teach a biology class)."

"She liked to give me random stuff from her house as tokens of appreciation. I still have a huge howling wolf statue in my office, which was a gift from her. She was great."

- jamesfinity

"Don't leave us hanging! Did she pass the class? Did she graduate? Did she become a nurse?"

- Mmmmfloorpie

"She did pass the class, but I have no idea what became of her, to be honest. I only teach in the biology department. Later that year, however, I saw her when she was volunteering at a blood drive at my school. She was wearing a red sequin gown and was helping people find the cookies and juice."

- jamesfinity

Going Far

"I'm not a teacher, but I used to tutor in a middle school special education classroom. I loved it, the kids were all really nice and eager to learn."

"One boy in particular sticks with me, though. He was new that year and couldn't read more than a few words. His old school apparently just didn't have good special education resources, so he fell through the cracks."

"He REALLY wanted to learn, though, so he worked on it every day with different tutors. By the end of the year, this kid who used to barely read, was reading chapter books. It was still way below the reading level of his peers but I was SO proud of him. He worked so incredibly hard."

- CaptainFartPole

A Touching Connection

"A boy with autism who loved with his whole heart. He knew all the stats for his favorite teams, and he would regularly come into my room at lunch to talk about hockey and football, oblivious to the fact that I had zero knowledge to match his, but happy to teach me nonetheless. He once did a presentation about his father (who had succumbed to a heart attack), then apologized for going over time (as I bawled at the back of the classroom)."

"Every time I hear 'Free Bird,' I think of him, because his assessment of the song turned from, 'What is this garbage?!' to, 'Okay, I guess it's fine,' which made me belly laugh."

"He passed away in an accident shortly before he was supposed to graduate."

- sasky_07

A Diligent Student

"Furkan. I was temping as a maths teacher at an international school. I had a job in high tech as a development engineer, but I persuaded my employers to let me stand in teaching maths at this school temporarily whilst they tried to find someone permanent. Our management had just written a stiff letter to the government pointing out its (the government’s) deficiencies in STEM education, so I challenged them to put their money where their mouth was and they stepped up."

"Anyway, Furkan was one of my students and he tried really hard, really, really hard. I helped him as much as I could with tutoring - in school, outside school hours."

"And then, one day, I handed out the results of the latest test and Furkan, for the first time in his life, had obtained a 'sufficient.'"

"He was so excited that he got up, ran out of the classroom to go and tell his mentor and burst into the latter’s classroom in the middle of lessons shouting: 'Sir, sir, I got a sufficient for maths!'"

"Yeah, Furkan, you rocked."

- ahnotme

A Trying Life

"I had a student who had such a rough go. His father was incarcerated, his mom had different boyfriends every couple of weeks. He never had a lunch, and I would sneak snacks and food into his backpack and locker."

"However, his situation made him hard. He was physically rough with other kids, would swear all the time, and always tried to be sneaky and break rules. His behaviour just got worse and worse, and despite how much I tried to connect, he was an extremely difficult student."

"I really hope he manages to turn things around, but I’ve recently heard that he was arrested for theft and might go to a juvenile detention center. It’s just so sad. It’s not fair."

- Coffeeandmidnight

A Full Turnaround

"She was the cousin of the valedictorian of the grade level. I taught ninth grade English and she didn't speak any English at all. I worked with her every day; assigned Rosetta stone, printed out articles in both English and Spanish and had them side by side; I tutored her twice a week and gave her all the help she needed."

"She did not pass the state exam that year, but the following year, she passed both the ninth and tenth grade state exams."

"She had to move back to Mexico because of a family emergency, and I didn't see her for four years."

"My last year of teaching, I attended prom for the seniors, and she was invited by a guest as a plus-one."

"She balled her eyes out when she saw me. She hugged me, thanking me for believing in her, and never giving up on her. She spoke perfect English and she was going to college. She kept telling me I changed her life."

"I still cry whenever I think about her. She is an amazing human. She deserves the world. She was one of the hardest working students I have ever taught. She busted her a** and never took school for granted."

- TerribleVanity

The Breakthrough

"I used to teach ESL to pre-K through 3rd grade. I had one student who was only four when he first joined my class, named Noah. He was very serious. The other kids always goofed around and lost focus, like little kids do, but not this guy."

"I started shaking his hand every day and greeting him with a very formal, 'Thank you for joining us, Mr. Noah,' and for whatever reason, it was the ONE thing that would crack that kid up."

"He was so adorable. Serious little guy. I’ll always remember Mr. Noah."

- nastychickadee

A Shift In Mindset

"My first year at a new school, I was teaching a College Algebra class that was made for kids who needed an extra year to develop their math skills a bit more. They weren't ready for the next level, which would have been normal calculus or statistics, but didn't have anything lower. There was no chapter goal for me to hit, the only goal was to help them improve."

"On the first day of the new year at this new school, and I forget exactly how this came up, but one of the girls goes, 'This is the class for kids who are stupid in math,' so I explained to her that they aren't stupid at all and that they're all smart in their own ways even if it might not be math."

"She ended up having a great year and finished with a high B. Learned that a lot of her math-related issues were because other teachers had said she was bad at math."

"The next year, she takes regular stats with me and kills it. It's only a half-year class, so I don't see her until she graduates that same year."

"At graduation, she tells me she tested into precalculus, the level she should be for what she wanted to study, and was so stupidly excited about that."

"I'll never forget that girl and all her hard work and how you don't have to do a lot to help people change the way they see themselves, a subject, or topic."

- Nubacus

Not only are these stories deeply touching, funny, and sweet, but it's also no secret why these were some of these teachers' favorite memories.

What's so special about them, though, is that the students these teachers recalled probably felt exactly the same way about them.