Breanne, our director in Mission Viejo, California, received a totally unexpected email yesterday from a former student who’s a freshman in college. Here’s the text, shared with the student’s permission:
Hi Breanne –
I hope you’re doing well. I was writing because I owe you a huge thank you! Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I know I wasn’t the easiest student but you never gave up on me. I am in college because of you and all of your amazing help. So from the bottom of my heart thank you. I miss coming into your office and getting yelled at! Most things about home sound good right about now. I hope you have a great year with the incoming seniors and just know that all of your work was appreciated! I hope to hear from you soon.
Garrett
Indiana University
It’s hard for me to describe to high school students what a sincere “thank you” like that means to your counselor, your teacher, your parent, or anyone else who’s taken an interest and helped you get where you want to go. I’ve mentioned before that my mother keeps a shoebox of the nice notes she received from her students during her 30-year run as a high school English teacher. That should give you some sense of how important those words are to the people receiving them.
Yes, basic social graces dictate that we should say “thank you” when somebody does something for us. But that can be easy to miss (I know I certainly did) when you’re seventeen, and those helping you are fulfilling their professional or parental responsibilities.
Say “thank you” anyway. A real one, like the one in Garret’s email. It’s the right thing to do, a good habit to get into, and the best possible gift you could give in return.