I have the utmost respect for Mrs. Titus as a teacher and role model. Her conduct in class freshman year was always positive and everyone in class felt it. She always tried her best to make sure everyone in class succeeded, and really took it to heart when some people chose not to partake in class activities or assignments. She is also one of the nicest and most kind souls I’ve ever met. Even after I moved on from freshman year, she always would check in with me now and again when she saw me in the hallways and asked to read some of the essays I wrote. She also would tell us stories of the time she would spend at the SPCA and all the animals she would help. Simple stories like that made me realize, as a young freshman, how much more there is to life than just Academic English I. This is not to undermine the meaning of education, nor specifically that class, because I value both of those things. To me, I am not a big fan of reading and answering questions, but I think each English class I have taken since middle school has built on both my writing ability and level of intellect. I am going to mostly math-based career, but it certainly wouldn’t possible without the lessons I have learned in English, and certainly a large part of that was freshman English. I still remember reading the “Odyssey”, still one of the only stories I have both fully read and enjoyed, and doing various fun projects like the one where we had to make a futuristic invention; Tyler Von Nessen and I made these shoes that could make you fly but neither of us could draw so we had Giselle do that part even though she wasn’t in our group. Simple things like that helped make freshman year likely my favorite year of high school of all. We had English first period and were all a bunch of awkward 14 year olds, but Mrs. Titus made the environment light and exciting. I looked forward to school because it started with what was likely one of my favorite classes of high school. Mrs. Titus had a huge role in all of this. She had confidence in me as a student and therefore I gained more confidence in myself. She would always tell me and the whole class how great of people we all are, despite the few disobedient and often disrespectful kids we had in the class. She is truly in the small category of teachers I have had that I can call an “educator”. The lessons she taught me went from the “Odyssey”, to “Romeo and Juliet”, to “The Most Dangerous Game”, and way beyond. That’s one of the most important parts of liberal arts classes, they build character and let the student discover who they and who they may become, even if their future lies outside of the curriculum. Academic English I had all of these attributes and more, and Mrs. Titus is part of that. She both challenged and guided my classmates and I in a good direction for our four years at Freehold Township and past there, if we realized it then or not. There were things she told me like “Have fun at the football game!” or “You’ll be fine” if I got a bad grade that felt like they were just things she was supposed to say as a teacher and as a respectful adult. However, as I get older and older I realize all she was saying was the truth. All I remember from football is the fun I had, and all I remember from classes I have taken in the past are the valuable lessons I have learned. Ironically, the most amusing parts of those memories are the bad grades, or the bad games. Her optimistic mentality is one I try to now maintain at all times, and I will certainly never forget all Mrs. Titus has taught me as a part of that.