i want to take this opportunity to explain to you how you've impacted my life my freshman year i was going through some very hard times with my mental health but you changed this you saved my life joe and without you i doubt i would be here right now [Music] do you know what you're doing here i have no idea and i'm a little concerned go ahead and put those headphones on i know you guys should scare me hello oh my gosh wait is this life yeah car car did you invite someone here today i did
i invited my radio teacher joe bryant my 10th grade chemistry teacher nicole's thomaselli what do you have in your hand uh it's a letter to him why just show my appreciation to him oh god yeah i wrote you a letter because joe is such an impactful and amazing person in my life dear miss tomaselli dear mr washington i want to take this opportunity to explain to you how you've impacted my life i appreciate everything you have done for me when you became my teacher back in seventh grade i remember the first day of my of
my freshman year because it was the first class of the day you were doing introductions to the class and having everyone share their name and when it got to me and i was sharing you said in front of the class wow now that's a voice made for radio i know this is a sentence you've probably said multiple times to so many other people but it was one of the most impactful things that someone's had said to me unfortunately i was bullied a lot this kind of prevented me from establishing a circle of people that i
can't talk to or look forward to when i'm coming to school my whole life i've always been insecure about my voice and i was told a lot growing up my voice was too low for a girl and i was mimicked for having a speech impediment because of you joe i learned to be less insecure about my voice and not care what people said you were the class that has made me happy about going to school you would let me indulge in my interests you showing that appreciation and taking the time sparked that idea of i'm
worth more than i think i am you showed me how to be a great person i was really not good at being nice or kind to people but you helped me overcome that and made me enjoy meeting new people and doing new things my freshman year i was going through some very hard times with my mental health and i didn't have the energy to want to get up in the morning and to go to school but you changed this your class made me want to show up to school and gave me a reason to get
up in the morning i can genuinely say that you saved my life joe and without you i doubt i would be here right now i think about this very often and i just want you to know that you know it'd be a bit funny to call you my first friend in high school but that that was basically the case i really want to say thank you for being my friend you was like a father figure to me you really was in my life when i was going from home to home and i never really had
someone to guide me thank you very much i appreciate you oh my god joe you're not only the best teacher i've had but an incredible person i thank you from the bottom of my heart for always being there for me and for being an amazing teacher and friend thank you ms thomas ellie you are the best what was that like hearing that from her amazing this is everything right because sorry teaching is really really hard job and you don't ever get to or you rarely get to hear hear that from your students you know how'd
that feel to hear uh that letter from her great i'm just uh so blessed to have students like molly and it really means a lot coming from her because um i didn't know that she uh was feeling some of the feelings she expressed in that letter what he's saying i've done it for him i don't think it even equates for what he's actually done for me just hearing that that hits me man well let's uh have you go in and see him [Music] thank you so much me hi we're so silly it's you and baby
now oh my goodness this is max oh my gosh what was that like hearing it's intense you know because you you never know if you're able to really help a kid and so just hearing that i appreciate that what was it like hearing what i had to say it's just super emotional right it's like this is this is why i became a teacher this is everything to me why you put so much effort you're a good kid bro and you had a lot of people telling you that you weren't my goal was to show you
like bro i love you period so no matter if you're mad no matter if you're doing well or not bro you got somebody that's going to advocate for you no matter what i've been through a lot with my mental health and i would say that you giving me a passion for radio and being such an amazing teacher to me really it really gave me a reason to want to get up and to keep going and like persevere through everything if you put on a strong face molly because i i didn't know some of some of
that but if you ever need somebody to talk to i'm a pretty good listener i don't ever want to see students suffer in silence about anything self-pity and fear those are things that you knew somehow like how to push away why do you think i approached my teaching that day i was miserable when i was when i was in high school i feel like i went through a lot of similar things the best thing would be just to know that type of impact you can have on other people you are the reason why i went
to grad school why i made it a point to uh to get my master's degree in education with an emphasis on emotional learning how does that feel hearing that you motivated him i mean it feels good because now i know we could both make a change in something that's going on i'm gonna be just like flying high on all these love vibes i'm happy i'm making you feel loved because you're like the only person at that period in my life that made me feel loved well thank you very much i appreciate you bro like for
real man thank you guys so much [Applause]
