Happy Birthday!

Today is Saturday. It's a day for me to rest, but I met my five-member Masterminds team in the morning for a four-hour straight practice session at the city library. Then I went straight to school to tutor some of my students in our first Geometry math camp of the year. I still wonder at times why I do this to myself, especially when I'm getting up in the morning with little sleep. But I shouldn't, because experience tells me that doing an extra mile for my students only makes me happy. Today I got more than the usual thank-yous. Upon learning that, in Philippine time, it's already my birthday, the ten students that attended my math camp sang Happy Birthday to me! It wasn't pitch perfect. It felt waaaayyyyyyyyyyy more than that!

Mr. Hope

Here's an essay Roxie Torres, one of my former students, wrote in her English class last week of September. Her teacher, Mrs. Nelly Limas, forwarded it promptly to me.

I have met many different types of people in my lifetime but during my high school years, I met one specific person who was genuine in his own way. That person is my geometry teacher Mr. Jope.

Mr. Jope is a benevolent person. He has demonstrated to many people, including myself,

how the greatest gift that anyone could acquire is to bring bliss to those around you. He himself has conveyed many wishes to those who are less fortunate. He sends a spark to those who feel lost and hopeless just by showing them care and support. When I look at the impact Mr. Jope brings to others, I feel driven to give a light, a reason, for people to not lose the optimism that can bring a difference to society. In this type of society we live in nowadays, I believe we need more people like my geometry teacher. People who can push others and drive them to the goals of life just by giving them a few words of wisdom and multitudes of support. I have grasped the reason why he wants everyone to succeed. He, like myself, wants the world to be a better place to live in. He craves for everyone to have a chance in the limelight and realize that all their hard work has been worth every blood, sweat and tear.

Although Mr. Jope is still a human who has surely made many mistakes and has had his own fair share of agony like every other human being in this world, he still continues to fight and not let his regrets and decisions in his past haunt him. He has presented to me that the answer to conflicts is not to cower away from them but to run towards them with your head held up high. While facing the challenges that the world may bring, one should consider having a positive attitude. Don’t let the problem overcome your whole life; that is one thing that I still have to master from my mentor.

Mr. Jope has given a sense of hope and accomplishment to everyone he knows. He never leaves any person behind or makes them feel isolated. He has truly made a difference to many lives and he holds pride to his accomplishments. He is a giver not a receiver. I believe it's time for me as his pupil to start using my notes and to start teaching others what I have learned.