Paul Wack is one the very few teachers in all of my school years that I can honestly say I’ve made one of those “special connections” with. He is always there to encourage me to be a better student and he puts that special effort in to make sure all of his students understand assignments and not just a few. What I appreciate the most about Mr. Wack is that he teaches for the students benefit, and not his own.

He strolls into class, always greeting students with a friendly Hello, coffee mug in hand, sometimes filled with tea. He always brings an a smile into the classroom. Students start to quiet down as he “takes the stage” and reviews what we’ll be going over during class. Kids respect Mr. Wack not because he’s strict or scary, but because he respects you as a student.

One of the nice things Mr. Wack offers as a teacher is his witty humor. He’s not afraid to laugh during class after making a quick jab about himself, or tell a joke no matter how “cheesy.” He makes students feel welcome in his class by bringing his inviting spirit, no matter how modest he might be about it. That’s another thing I like about Mr. Wack.  He’s someone who is modest, even though he’s truly genuine.

I remember when English classes were doing Poetry Out Loud and we were reading aloud in front of the class. Silly me, I chose the longest poem out of my classmates. I shuffled to the front of the room, a bit nervous about how well I would do, and I went. The squeaks in my throat that I thought everyone noticed, seemed to be forgotten and apparently I did a nice job. Mr. Wack was the one who advised me into looking at the real competition after school. He offered to “coach” me through my poem the next day after school.

I really admire Mr. Wack for taking me under his wing. We sat in a classroom and went over my poem a couple times just so I could understand what the poet was trying to express through his writing. Mr. Wack sat there with me as I recited over and over helping me add more umph to special words to make them sound important. We were probably doing this for half an hour just so I could better comprehend my poem.

Remember when I said Mr. Wack teaches for the student’s benefit and not his own? This is what I meant. It was really nice of him to coach me for half an hour after school when he could have focused his time on something more important like grading papers or heading home earlier. By guiding me through this project that wasn’t even directly apart of my American Literature class made me realize how well Mr. Wack understood the definition of what a teacher was. It’s someone who goes out of their way to promote any student. I can truthfully say that I will miss Mr. Wack’s class next year because he goes out of his way to recognize the importance of every single one of his students.