Impact — to the second power

Pin It School was out and I was helping a few students with their homework when my classroom door opened. In walked a student I’d had in my class last year—I’ll call him ‘Joey.” Now, though I hadn’t seen Joey more than once or twice in the past six months I’d heard about how he was doing from his brother…that he had good grades in middle school, and that he’d taken up guitar classes.

Joey paused for a second in the doorway, looking around my new classroom. Upon spotting me he ran across the room, threw his arms around me, and hugged me like he were never going to let go. I patted his back saying something to the effect of, “It’s great to see you again too, Joey.”

He started to cry.

I immediately thought that something must be wrong. Perhaps there were problems at home. Maybe somebody in his family had been hurt. I wondered even if he’d been bullied or somebody had threatened him.

“Joey, what’s wrong?” I asked, concerned.

In response at first he said nothing—he just squeezed even harder. Finally, with a quavering voice through his tears he choked out, “Nothing’s wrong, Mr. Z…I just miss you so much.”

Sometimes, I forget just what a big impact I make on the lives of some of my students—as well as the impact they make on me.