by: Lianna Lopez || Illustration Credit: Ashkinaz Canonoy

Stack-by-stack, elementary school textbooks piled themselves on top of one another on the round table of the family dining room. Along with them was a collection of old and crumpled academic worksheets and eraser debris scattered all over. In the midst of it was a girl in thick-rimmed glasses absorbed in the confines of academic work. But this isn’t about her. It’s about the boy who slept just a room away from where she sat. It’s about his story and a visitor whose presence did wonders. A visitor whom we’ve all met at least once in our lives. 

Unlike that overachieving little girl drowned in the sea of academic life, this lad was stuck still and lost sitting on a boat in the midst of turbulent blue ocean waves. His tiny boat fits just him— no room for stacks of textbooks, used worksheets, thoughts of anything of the sort. It was a place devoid of any living human but himself. A place where he was alone, and his notions could go uncharted–where home was nowhere near. He was lost. Afraid? Maybe. However, on that Sunday noon, he was in a deep lonely slumber.

“Maupay nga udto,” the woman with a neat high bun greeted as she entered the house. The kid sat by the table looked at her curiously, slightly intimidated by the presence of a stranger in her home. She observed the visitor as she stood there with a warm smile on her face, one so warm and bright the gloomy weather did not feel as gloomy as it should have been. Shortly after, she fell into a conversation with the mother whose hands were damp and clammy as she led the woman who had introduced herself as the boy’s teacher and homeroom adviser to the room wherein the boy had himself barred in. She let herself inside.

She let herself sail across the dark, barren, and solitary waters the boy had remained afloat in for the past several days. He had spent the minutes and hours of the clock and the days of the calendar locked in this cataclysmic abyss, losing touch with the other world–refusing the hand of those who had tried reaching in. Yet, this woman, whose black and white-streaked hair, perseveringly and unrelentingly took in the extra time, work, and effort willingly on a Sunday noon to reach in for this helpless student. She could’ve used the day to spend time with her own family, but she was here. This spoke volumes.

He was a failing student. Left too much astray in the dark. Yet, this teacher had lost no hope in him. She had welcomed him, and had urged him back. And that says even more. 

She was his teacher: a second parent, a second mother. She was someone who had cared and understood enough to unwaveringly reach out to a student whose times had been difficult. Someone who would not so easily let her own student stray away and give up on quality education, on a future that awaits him. She is who a teacher is. She is who teachers are. 

They are not just educators in the classroom but also guardians willing to guide their students outside of it —whether these be about complex trigonometry and stoichiometry problems, or the heart-wrenching argument from last night’s dinner. They are the adults these children can turn to for advice, knowledge, and values essential to their growth as human beings. They are the grownups outside of their homes who can help mold a brighter future for these young individuals. 

As students, we have encountered these teachers. They, who’ve helped us as we’ve, at least once, strayed far too deep beyond the dark waters of this world. When we’ve found ourselves furthest in thunderous storms and desolate seas, they are the lighthouses that guide us in whipping through the challenges and sailing our way back to the right path in dreary times. 

When home is too far from reach, we see our beacons of light: we see our teachers— our life counselors, our academic instructors, our second parents, and everything more. 

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Editor’s Note:

We at the Science Net are more than grateful for our teachers who make EVC home. To our second parents, greatest confidants, and unsung heroes, your dedication and love are truly worthy of all recognition.

Thank you for imparting to us your superpowers, so that one day, we, too, could become the heroes in our own stories.

Happy Teacher’s Day!