Thank you, educators, for teaching me to be curious

All week, we’ll be encouraging people to express their thanks to educators who have had an impact on their lives, their children’s lives, their community or the world as a whole.

In that spirit, I want to highlight two educators here who were especially important to me in my life.

The first was my 4th grade English teacher, Mrs. Sutherland, who inspired me to appreciate the joys of good writing—writing that is descriptive, emotive and creates a reaction. What I’ve taken with me from her teaching is not a particular skill or competency, but rather a passion for books and reading that has carried with me and helped me continue to learn throughout my life.

The second educator I want to highlight is a geography teacher I had in secondary school, Mr. Miles. In his class, I remember learning about geomorphology and how different continents and geographical formations come together and pull apart over time. That triggered another passion that has stayed with me: a love of travel and fascination with seeing different parts of the world – from the lowest point of the earth at the Dead Sea that borders Israel and Jordan to one of the highest, the salt flats in Bolivia.