52 Stories: 1,000 Envelopes

Inspired by One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern, I've decided to ask people some thought provoking questions about themselves, as I feel that everyone has a story to tell. If you're just joining me on this journey today, please check out the previous posts from this series, as well.

I knew this storyteller in person before we actually connected over a shared love of the same kind of books. She now is part of my book blogging team and I'm glad it gives us an excuse to talk even more.

When I contact people to do this project, they have the option of answering all the questions or just answering one with a longer story. This is the first storyteller to choose the latter.

Name: Miriam
Age: Withheld
Gender: Female
Location: Maryland


What is something you did that changed someone's life?

Every year, I mail close to 1,000 college recommendations. Whenever I think about the sheer act of licking that many envelope flaps, my brain reels, but there it is.

As the sole eleventh-grade English instructor in a program that caters to high-achieving humanities students, I get a lot of recommendation requests. During the course of a typical school year, anywhere between 75-90 students will ask me to send in their recs. Since I tend to like almost all of my students, and because I understand just how vital the college admissions process is for their future, I have a really hard time saying no when they ask me for help.

One thing I insist upon, however, is a well-written thank you note. It's the least a student can do for subjecting me to endless unpaid hours of work. Every year, I post the notes on my office closet, and though the cards often come with little tokens like chocolate or Starbucks gift cards, it's the notes I love the most. Quite often, students tell me that they got into school because of me, or that I changed the way they look at something important. The first assertion I almost never believe, so I tell them that they got themselves into school and I just nudged it along. But the second compliment I let myself accept whole-heartedly. It's my job to teach teenagers how to think and critically analyze situations so they can carry those skills into adulthood. If I help even one student each year (and I'm hoping that it's more, but whatever), then it's worth all of those unpaid hours of sitting under piles of college forms and letters.