BRI Teacher Council Member Learns How She Impacted Her Student

By Bridget Kaiser-Munday

“Hallelujah, Joe.”

I usually send out emails to each of my students the day AP exam grades are posted. Some are empowering when they haven’t done as well as they had hoped, some are congratulatory, and some are excited when a student surpasses their own expectations. I don’t usually receive a response, but I got one from a student one summer. He responded with a simple word of joy used in our Catholic school pretty frequently and then his name.

Watching Joe excel in a freshman-level AP class was a gift and watching him shine throughout his high school career was a privilege. Seeing Joe thrive as a political science student in a very competitive program in our state is a highlight of my career.

I have bookend students — I teach freshmen in AP Human Geography and seniors in AP Government, and Joe was one of these students. I love watching them mature and grow in the intervening years, and Joe still maintained all of his humor, charm, and academic rigor in those years. He didn’t realize his passion for government and politics until it was too late to apply during his senior year for a very prestigious scholarship at one of our state universities. It only accepts 10 students, and the scholarship is all expenses paid, with a few fun trips thrown into the mix.

In May, his disappointment that he was attending this university but not part of this scholarship program was palpable, but he was invited to attend their summer weeklong program. Joe let me know that the week was fun, and he was ready for college and excited to attend. I thought that’d be the last time Joe and I corresponded, but I was wrong.

Halfway through Joe’s college sophomore year, I received an email from his school email address with the subject line “Hallelujah!” He talked about how much the Bill of Rights Institute’s “Think The Vote” program inspired him to study political journalism. Joe also mentioned the “Jimmy Carter Says ‘Yes!’” campaign song that became their school anthem.

He also talked about how he was admitted to the full-tuition, full-room and board, full-everything scholarship program the month before. Joe is the editor of his university newspaper and an intern at the local newspaper. He is grateful for the compassion, energy, and kindness that he says I shared.

What we do as teachers matters. It may not show now, or when that one student challenges everything I say. But sometimes for that one, that simple one, it does. And for that, I say “Hallelujah!”

Bridget Kaiser-Munday teaches AP Geography, World History, and Government and Politics at St. Henry District High School in Erlanger, Ky. She is also a member of the Bill of Rights Institute National Teacher Council.