Title – A Bracelet that Changes a Teacher’s Outlook

By – Amber

Graduating from college in December 2009, I returned home to substitute teach in the school system in which I grew up in. This was one of the greatest things that I could have ever done, because it meant that I got a head start on knowing even more children than in year’s past.

I really began to bond with one student whose family had gone through a horrible tragedy that last April. A precious nine-year-old boy lost his Dad to a tragic, rapid six week battle with cancer. Somehow, God blessed me with the chance to get to know him.

Living in Alabama, EVERYONE has to make a choice of football team between Auburn and Alabama. Although we chose different teams, somehow that made us even greater friends.

This year, I started my teaching career at that school. I enjoyed seeing my special friend every day. This week he brought me a present and nonchalantly handed it to me as I passed his class in the hallway. When I looked at that present, I stood in awe for a minute. It was a silcione wristband in memory of his father. I came into my classroom and emailed his mother to tell her how much I loved it. Her reply brought me to absolute tears. It said, “When he got up this morning, he went to the coffee table where we have a box shaped like a cross that the kids keep those bracelets in. He got out two of them without saying anything to me, and so I asked him who they were for. He said one for Miss Clark, and I am wearing one today or I may give it to someone else. It must have been on his mind.”

The bracelet, although it is the color of the opposite college team that I choose NOT to cheer for, has not left my arm! I am wearing it as

a reminder of how much impact you can have on a child, no matter what your role

. I wasn’t a teacher when I befriend him and I think that he really has taught me more than I could ever dream of teaching him. I am even wearing it to Auburn this weekend … the Alabama colored bracelet won’t match my Auburn colors at all, but it is a great way to remind me that the impact you have on others is incredible, no matter where you are. The look on John’s face today when I told him I was wearing it to Auburn might have made my school year!!

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