Lubbock Woman Shares Heartwarming Memory of a Favorite Teacher

Teachers are so incredibly important to our community. Shaping young minds and giving them tools to navigate life. Some are better than others, but some are simply GREAT!

I think of my Monterey High School theater teacher, Mr. Ray Newton. Here's how I came to be a 'theater kid'.

I was a pretty good baseball player in my younger years. I even went to the Bobby Moegle Baseball Camp year after year just to hone my skills. But, by the time I actually got to high school, my friends had outgrown me and were faster and stronger than me. There was no chance I could keep up with my extraordinarily talented friends. As a matter of fact, they won the state championship our senior year. They were a GREAT team.

Anyway, Coach Moegle was basically just making me run laps at practice all day and I was severely depressed about the whole thing. One day, Moegle pulled me aside and said he would find me a class to give me an athletic credit as a favor since I wasn't going to be getting any playing time.

(Here's a picture of my buddies during a reunion from two years ago.)

I chose theater since I was also very much a class clown. I had NO idea what I was going to do in a theater class with a bunch of dorks doing Shakespeare. But, that's when I met Mr. Newton, the brand new Monterey theater teacher.

This guy had us doing stand-up comedy, hilarious (and very adult) plays, writing our own scenes, as well as performing the classics. It was fantastic and I really was able to channel all of my energy into something creative for the first time. It's what made me want to do radio, which I've now been doing for 30 years in Lubbock!

Mr. Newton, wherever you are, thanks for taking a wild, loud kid and showing me how to use my emotions and crazy energy to create things out of thin air. I use those skills daily in my career and personal life.

A Listener Tells Us About Their Favorite Teacher

One of our listeners, Brittney, gave a wonderful answer as to the teacher who impacted her most.

Lisa Hiracheta, my 7th grade math teacher. I've always hated math, and she was very hard on me. She had me go to tutoring sessions with her every morning before school. She refused to give up on me, and not only did I pass the TAKS test (which I never did in the past, especially in the math section), I scored higher than the state average. My parents were so proud of me, and it was then that I realized she knew I could do better, and she was going to bring out my potential. I hope she reads this, because I want her to know I will be forever grateful for being the best teacher I've ever had.

Who Impacted YOU The most?

What about you? Tell us who your favorite teacher was!

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