Page 39 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2023 - Online Magazine

SENIOR 2 SENIOR

ultimate goal in being a teacher — “to create a safe
and inviting place where ‘my kids’ felt free to be
themselves, be curious, to think critically, and not to
just learn ‘stuff,’ but rather to learn how to be learners
for the rest of their lives.” I remember the walk to her
classroom during which we students would smile and
communicate our eagerness to get to her class. We
looked forward to being in the company of an adult
who genuinely believed in us and in our ability to
learn.
decisions, a liberty many other teachers would never Mrs. Burnett’s classroom was a safe place for all of us.
allow us. The relationships built among the students It was unlike any other classroom I’d been in, where
in Apollo continued to grow stronger each day as we the time flew by, where we could exercise our brains
learned more about teamwork and trust. We regularly and our creativity and know that Mrs. Burnett would
completed trust exercises and brain exercises by always have our backs through everything.
working together and understanding how every other
student worked. Under Mrs. Burnett’s guidance,
we learned that every person will have their own
thoughts and processes to complete tasks and
decipher meanings. This understanding brought us
together as a class and allowed us to overcome the
obstacles Mrs. Burnett would present us.

When I asked Mrs. Burnett questions for this article,
she was delighted to hear from me. She reminisced
about her days as a teacher, and she told me how
she misses her students “tremendously.” She called
us “[her] kids,” furthering my comprehension of
her genuine love and support of every one of her
students. Mrs. Burnett easily accomplished her

Article Submitted by
Ash Strickland SUNDOWN HIGH SCHOOL

Ash Strickland attends Sundown High School. She enjoys reading and works after school
at Sonic. She plans to attend UT Arlington and major in English with aspirations of
becoming an English professor.

Lubbock Senior Link 39