This is a special week in Irving ISD. It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! All over the district in 37 campuses, we are celebrating over 2,100 teachers who change the game every day for our students. To all of those teachers, thank you. Your commitment, dedication and passion for education do not go unnoticed, especially by your students.
Phimmachanh Thammavong, sophomore at Nimitz High School, is just one of thousands taking a moment to say thanks to her AP Language teacher, Ms. Kerry Beaver. Read about her gratitude below:
At the beginning of the school year, I didn’t know what to expect coming into 2020. This year has been really rough on a lot of us lately, especially on the students and teachers. But one class had always been the highlight of my day, and that was Mrs. Beavers class, which was AP Language.
I love her class, and it’s my favorite out of all the classes that I have. Mrs. Beavers never disappoints me when she teaches class because she does not dismiss the important conversations we need to have in this day and age. She asks us the hard questions; she challenges us to think about the situations we see in life right now, locally, nationally, and globally. Because of this, because of how welcoming she is to listen to what we have to say, she gave me the courage to think about the situation that I was in, and how I can voice my opinion.
With the rising Anti Asian hate crimes, all of these stories about Asian hate brought back forgotten memories that I suppressed a long time ago about experiencing racism in school, and everyday life. My name is Phimmachanh, but I have always gone by the name Becky. That was my English name, and growing up, in school I had always gone by that name for the sake of others, so that it was easy for them. But recently, I had thought about going by my real name, not my English name for the sake of others who wanted to take the easy way out of my identity, and I emailed my teachers and told them my story.
And they were all accepting, and so kind hearted, but one teacher really went above and beyond for me. And that was Mrs. Beavers. She listened to my story, and personally took the time to incorporate stories about Asian American experiences to share with class, in order to shed light on it. She personally took the time to reach out to me, to tell me, that she appreciates me sharing my story. And it was because of her that I was able to do it. She made me brave enough to think about what I can do.
I really do appreciate her, and everything that she does, and she brightens up my day, everyday.
