STUDENT: Kris Querry McCall
YEAR GRADUATED: 1987
EMAIL ADDRESS: Krismccall@attbi.com
MEMORY OF MR. HALL
When I got the request from Michael to send a note for you, I almost couldn't believe it. You have actually been on my mind a lot lately, and then the message came from out of the blue! Maybe I am a little psychic or something!
Here in Sacramento, one of our news stations has a Teacher of the Month and Teacher of the Year program. The first time I saw the commercial asking for nominees, I started thinking about which teachers made a greater than average impact on my education. Yep, I thought of you!
Mr. Hall, I am SO VERY GRATEFUL for all of the grammar lessons you drilled into us over and over again in seventh grade! The number of people who cannot seem to put a sentence together is amazing! And, don't get me started on misspelled words! This is truly my pet peeve!
So, Mr. Hall, thank you so very much for drilling us over and over and over again until we thought we would die. If you thought we weren't listening or paying attention, you were wrong! Some of it actually sunk in!
One of my favorite memories of you is when we were conjugating the verb "climb." You asked for the past tense---climbed--- and said something about it NOT being "clumb." "How can you "clumb" up a tree?" you asked. I also remember the time you slammed your pointer stick down on Rhonda's desk and it scared her and made her cry. Mostly, I remember you were always smiling---both your mouth and your eyes smiled. Even when you were angry with us for being late for class, or talking, or not paying attention, your eyes still twinkled.
Thank you again for all of your hard work. I hope you realize how much of a difference you made, not only in my life, but in many lives.
WHAT I AM DOING NOW
I have been married for six years now, and have two beautiful daughters. Erika is four and Lauren is six months old. Before I had kids I was working as a Customer Service Agent in a large insurance agency. After Erika was born, my boss offered me the option of working from home as an assistant to the department, and I have been doing that for the last 4 years.
The nature of my job provides me with insight on how the rest of the agents in my office work. I am amazed at the routine spelling and grammar errors that I find in their file notes as well as the correspondence that goes out to the clients! Funny thing--my supervisor is one of the worst offenders! If I got a letter like that from my insurance agent, I would be changing agents right away---if they cannot spell, how can I trust them to handle my insurance matters???