Editor’s Note: In honor of teacher appreciation week, five NWN staff members have chosen a teacher to write about. These teachers have made an impact on our lives, and we would like to show them our appreciation. Look for more articles throughout the week.

I’m a history and English kind of person. They’re my favorite subjects since words and events intrigue me. In contrast, math and science are not my friends at all. Those subjects are either complete gibberish to me, or cover topics that don’t interest me. For as long as I can remember, math and science have always brought up feelings of reluctance and unhappiness. The summer before junior year, I remember panicking about how I was going to survive physics, since it requires a pretty substantial amount of math. However, that all changed junior year, with the entrance of physics teacher Howard Swider.

How does a person like me have that kind of turnaround? The answer’s quite simple: Mr. Swider is just an awesome teacher. To be honest, I had a hard time getting a read on Mr. Swider during the first week or so of class, so that made him a bit intimidating. After that, I realized that I could relate well to him. He didn’t let students get away with nonsense in the classroom, which I admire. Mr. Swider’s also very sarcastic, which suited me perfectly, since I can be sarcastic to the point where people can’t tell if I’m joking or not.

The biggest thing about Mr. Swider is that he recognizes hard work. There were a few kids in my class that were about as mathematically “gifted” as I am, but we all worked extremely hard. I took copious notes (my notebook from that class was rather impressive), stuck to doing my work while some other kids wasted class time, and talked with him one-on-one during class if I didn’t understand something. True, that’s what a student is supposed to do anyway, but Mr. Swider would take note of it. Basically, if you don’t waste his time, he won’t waste yours.

Mr. Swider was also able to break concepts down, which is key for somebody who tends to struggle in that subject. I don’t know how he did it, but Mr. Swider was able to explain things to the point where I was able to understand the concept well. Yes, some of this knowledge also came from out-of-class work, but Mr. Swider could bring the material down to your level, which made physics infinitely easier for me.

His sense of humor, though, is probably the best. The two of us would just go back and forth during class, exchanging witty quips. We could also talk about any topic. Last year, we talked about current world events, pop culture, and just life in general.

Though I’m out of his class this year, I’ve still gone and visited Mr. Swider. The conversations are still good and witty, just like last year. When the time came around for recommendation letters for college applications, I knew without a doubt that I would ask Mr. Swider, since he knows me well. I also asked for his help in writing recommendation letters for college scholarships, one of which I won. I doubt that I would have even been considered for the scholarship had it not been for his letter.

So thank you for everything, Mr. Swider. Not only was your class fun, but you helped to make physics appealing to a girl who runs away from math and science like they’re the plague. And yes, I’ll be back to visit during the spaghetti towers project.