being back in school, although not as a student,

kinda makes me feel nostalgic at times.

Teachers' Day was 11 days ago,

but I was too caught up with stuff,

that I didnt do anything for any of my teachers.

I know that hazz was collecting msges for cikgu fauziah,

but I decided not to join tt.

I know she was a very popular and inspirational teacher,

but truth be told, I cannot remember much about how

she impacted my life.

or how she was in class. or anything like tt.

this despite being damn gd in malay. LAST TIME.

all i can remember was tt i was asked to read my karangan

out loud to the class because i had gd marks.

but knowing how buruk my spoken malay is,

i'd refuse.

However, yesterday, after 7 long years,

I sent a 'thank you' email to the teacher who has touched my life.

the one teacher tt was the catalyst to the turning pt in my life.

I often speak of him on occasions when I was asked to

talk about someone who has changed my life, or sth along those lines.

but I have never thanked him in person. So yesterday, I sent an email to my

Sec 4 form teacher, Mr Tay Yong Hwee.

I have no idea if he has the same effect on my other

ex-classmates, and I know I have to credit my drastic change to myself for my

hardwork, and to my besties for telling me tt I could do it although my studies

suck really, really bad.

But Mr Tay was very motivational, and shows his care and concern

in his own special way. Maths was my favourite subject in primary school,

but in secondary school, I had difficulty passing it.

And with tt, goes my confidence, and all my grades were affected.

I remembered telling him I couldn’t do it, I am not

even sure I can get into a polytechnic, my grades,

and effort were gd enough to get

me into ITE. But he believed in me, he saw potential in me,

something I couldn’t see at that point of time.

Sometimes, all it takes is for one person to believe in you.

For O Levels, I got an A1 and A2 for my emaths and amaths respectively,

from F9s back in Sec 3.

So I wrote all that to him. And he replied a few hours later.

I didn’t expect him to remember me, but he did. =)

“I remember you,
Sec 4S has always been a special class to me.”

So to all teachers out there, believe in your students, motivate them,

because you will never know how life-changing it can be for them.

Unless they write you an email 7 yrs on.