When I think about a great teacher that has left a big mark on my life, one comes straight to my mind. That individual would be my 7th and 8th grade design teacher, Mr. Mester. Mr. Mester leaves an impression immediately. When I walked into his classroom on the first day, his enthusiasm and humor were comforting. I only had him as a teacher for two years, but during those years he helped my creativity skills explode and challenged me in any way possible. Mr. Mester is a teacher with many great qualities. He taught me many life skills I didn't realize I would need, he is creative, and he has a great sense of humor.

During the two years that I had Mr. Mester as a teacher, he taught me many life skills that I didn't realize I would need. He taught me how to sew when I was creating a Chewbacca costume for the “Star Wars Costume” project. He gave me a good tip on pattern making, so I could sew the fake fur easier. Mr. Mester assigned the class a puppet project, and I chose to make a marionette. He taught me how to drill, so my puppet’s head and arms could move freely. He also taught me how to program on my Chromebook when we made our own video games. These are all skills I was happy to master, and I’m grateful to Mr. Mester who patiently helped me.

The next great quality Mr. Mester has is his creativity skills. One of our many projects was to make paper shoes. During the project we could only use paper products to make the shoes; they had to fit a real foot and make it down a 100 foot runway in tact. Mr. Mester gave the class ideas of ways to use everyday paper materials. The paper materials consisted of toilet paper rolls, duct tape, and cardboard tape rolls. He showed us how we could reinforce the paper shoes, so they would hold up on the runway. Lastly, Mr. Mester was very helpful. At any moment during his class, of 30 plus people, he would stop what he was doing and help. He helped with holding stuff together while it was being glued together. He helped with drilling/cutting wood. He helped with almost anything. The biggest help? He made sure that we did all of the hard work, so we learned how to do it better in the future.

Lastly, Mr. Mester has a great sense of humor! This quality made the classroom atmosphere 100% better. I don’t know if Mr. Mester knows how funny he is? He could put you at ease with his self deprecating humor. He would always pop some great dad jokes, and they would always occur at the perfect time. Mr. Mester would also do great impressions of 13 year old kids complaining about simple and easy tasks to complete. You always knew, that when you walked into his class, you were in for a relaxed, happy time where your work wouldn’t suffer from lack of humor.

All in all, Mr. Mester should get an award for SOMETHING! He always believed that his tasks provided would be accomplished by his students, since they were fun and creative, but used real skills, a creative outlook and always made the classroom a fun environment. I believe Mr. Mester will always strive to get the best work from you and nothing less. Mr. Mester is a very special teacher and is a teacher that every student should be able to have at least once in their lifetime. He is my nomination for Educator of the Year.