Opinions

Dear Teachers,

As my four years at Stuyvesant come to a close and college letters flow in, I want to take a quick glance at my thank you speech. G-d, check. Family, check. Friends, check. Lucky four leaf clover, check. Finally, I want to thank all my teachers. Check.

Stuyvesant is often revered for its students while its teachers’ abilities are overlooked. This is rather pretentious: we are not the only reason for Stuyvesant’s success; teachers deserve credit too. Although I admit that some teachers I have had were not exactly great, I would not be who I am tody without them.

I came to Stuyvesant focused on math. Over the past three and a half years, I have broadened my horizons to include social studies, the sciences and writing. My passion for math has continued and flourished. My teachers deserve their due–one of my English teachers would even stay after school with me to go over outlines and drafts of my essays. I would not have received as comprehensive an education elsewhere. The experiences, discussions, and (occasionally boring but always informative) lectures were invaluable.

My teachers’ greatest gift has been their sincerity: whether telling a funny story or making sure I was doing well, they showed me they cared.

I now realize how difficult it is to write a recommendation and describe a person’s character in a few hundred words.

I can sum up my sentiments in two sentences: thank you for giving me your time, passing on your knowledge, your understanding and, most of all, your authenticty. I really appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Sam Cytryn