The Most Memorable Gift I Received From A Student
I opened the envelope with Sammy watching closely and something flashy slipped out of the card and into my hand.
Since the time I was a small child, I have always dreamed of becoming a teacher. My plan was to teach and give the gift of learning to students, but I have found, through the years, that my students have given me so much more.
Several years ago, a young man, I’ll call him Sammy, was a kid who would show up in my high school classroom about 45 minutes before school, just to hang out. Sammy was a needy child; he constantly demanded my attention and he was lacking in most social skills. To top it off, Sammy had a fierce body odor and his clothes were always dirty. These traits kept Sammy from making any friends. On days that he didn’t come to school, it was a relief because I could get some things done before my classes began.
One December, Sammy met me early at my classroom door wearing a huge grin. He handed me a Christmas card that had a slight bulge. I opened the envelope with Sammy watching closely and something flashy slipped out of the card and into my hand. I looked at the items and discovered they were a pair of plastic earrings. Each earring had multiple pieces shaped like a bananas, in all different colors with a rhinestone at the top, holding them all together. In his poor handwriting, he wrote on the card, “Mrs. Grant, you are my favorite teacher, in female. Sammy” I smiled and thanked Sammy for his gift. He said, “Aren’t you going to put them on?” and I did so. Sammy was thrilled, and I was dazed.
Later in the day, my principal came up at lunch and said, “Mrs. Grant, I don’t think that I would go swimming in any pond with those earrings on.” I looked at him and nodded, recognizing that these earrings looked just like cheap fishing lures.
I wore the earrings from time to time, just to make Sammy feel good and it wasn’t until the spring of that school year that I realized the value of his gift. We were having an after school outing off the school campus that Sammy attended. Afterward, the bus driver dropped off several kids, including Sammy, on the way back to the school. I glanced out of the bus window when he got off and was shocked at what I saw. Sammy lived in a house that had several windows without panes. The front door didn’t appear to shut, and then one teacher whispered that Sammy’s house only had dirt floors and no indoor plumbing.
It stunned me. I never knew that Sammy lived in such conditions and then I thought of the earrings that he had given me that could not have cost more than a dollar. Tears gathered in my eyes as I thought of how much that gift cost him. He took the little that he had and he spent it on me.
I still have the earrings and the card from more than 25 years ago. When I look at them I realize again that I set out to teach my students many things but, in reality, they teach me so much more.
