A Tribute

I'm sure you've heard the stories in recent weeks about Annie Le, the Yale grad student who was murdered just a few days before her wedding. The following was written by a teacher friend of mine. Thank you so much Kim, for allowing me to share your beautiful words:

Annie was my student in Math Analysis in the Spring of 2001. Union Mine was a young school, starting with only freshmen and sophomores. Annie’s class was the first four year class to graduate at UMHS. As a group of students, they were a close bunch. I too, was a young teacher. When Union Mine opened in 1999, I was recruited by Carl Fickle our Principal to join the staff. I was honored and thrilled to be part of this new and innovative school and quickly joined the instructional team as co-math department chair. The teachers at Union Mine advanced with their students as we added new classes each year to accommodate the needs of eleventh and twelfth grade students. As a teacher, I also advanced teaching higher level classes each year.

We did not have books for Math Analysis when the year started and we decided not to purchase them because we were in an adoption year and the current book was already seven years old. Other teachers in the district did not particularly like the book and encouraged me to look for other options to “get by” for the year. Looking forward to the challenge, I created the entire curriculum for that course by researching interesting activities and creating project-based units. In my quest for finding really challenging and interesting material, I would at times, find myself struggling to solve complicated problems with my students. I recall getting stumped, staring at the board and working up a sweat. And this is where Annie comes into the story as she would inevitably come to my rescue, seeing my errors or having the ability to visualize the solution. With tremendous respect, Annie helped me and in turn, helped the class. And, then there was Mike Couper. With the two of them, we were all in good hands! It was a great semester, one that I will never forget especially since I learned as much, if not more than my students.

In 2002, Annie was awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Math award at Union Mine. I had the honor of speaking about Annie’s exceptional performances in math and in handing her the award. I treasure the picture taken this night and keep it with my family photos. Union Mine was family – the students, the staff, and the administration.

It is hard for me to accept that such brilliance, compassion and empathy was taken from this world. I read people in media blogs ask, “Why has Annie Le had so much press? She never contributed anything.” And I want to scream at their ignorance because from my perspective, Annie contributed more than they could ever know – more than she even knew. Annie Le contributed to my growth as a teacher and she contributed to the success of not only that class in 2001, but to each and every student I have taught since then and who I will teach in the future. Annie taught me to appreciate having a student who was smarter than me. She taught me how to be humble when I did not know every answer. She taught me to be more resourceful so that I can push students at all levels to perform at their highest potential. She taught me how to say, “I don’t know, but I will find out,” without embarrassment. Students every year benefit from what I learned that year teaching Annie. I have never forgotten her. I have never stopped appreciating her. I will forever miss her. Annie, I thank you for your contribution to my growth in the teaching profession and for my continued love for the students who I teach.