“They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel.” — Carol Buchner

Today on my campus, one of our staff members passed away from a severe illness. We were aware of the illness, but the actual passing away was very swift and unexpected.  She was never one to let on to how bad she was doing. Although I barely knew her because I was new this year, it hit me hard, and I was left wondering why. Sure, she was kind and introduced herself at the beginning of the year, but other than that, I had barely spoken too her. Why was I crying? (Besides the fact that I cry during pretty much everything).

Schools are families. Not only are your students like your children, but your co-workers become your brothers and sisters. I personally feel like there is a level of ‘connectedness’ that doesn’t occur in many corporate jobs. Not only do you work with these people 8+ hours a day, do weekly trainings with them, eat with them and plan with them, you also have a personal stake in the outcome of your jobs.  No one becomes a teacher because of the pay. They do it because they care about the outcome of their students.  Unlike in tech and sales, where doing good gets you a bonus or a promotion, teachers have only themselves and their co-workers to motivate them. There is no ‘christmas bonus’ in the educational world. We all stay after school for meetings and come in at 7 for SST’s because we genuinely care about our students with no expectation of reciprocation.  I think it would be fair to say that the educational family is one of the closest in the working field.

That is why when something like illness claims one of our ‘family’, it ripples down to the heart of the staff. Everyone, the principal, office staff, paraprofessionals, and janitors expressed concern and sadness at her passing. The feeling was universal no matter who you were or how much time you spent with her. Most students on campus felt the pain of loss as much as our staff did, reacting in a way reminiscent of adults double their age. Although my students personally did not know her well or could not process the information to an emotional level, one of my 6th graders remarked “my grandpa is in heaven too!” sparking extra tears and reminding me why exactly I chose this career.