When I went on line this morning and headed over to Facebook, I saw an announcement in our Griffith High School Alumni page announcing the death of Gerry Spejewski. Gerry was the English, Speech, and Drama teacher at the high school throughout my years there. In the eyes of my youth, he was a great man. Through the eyes of a now elderly man, he was a great man.
He knew how to draw things out of a student in order to help that student achieve and to reach higher than the student thought possible. He was quick-witted and you could always count on a laugh, if not several, each class.
In speech, he told us that he was going to teach our course on a college level and challenge us to give our best. It was tough but rewarding and I learned a lot. When I went to college, I asked my faculty adviser if I could get credit for that speech course so that I wouldn’t have to take speech again and could take, instead, another course.
The adviser told me that I would have to take the college speech course, that it would not be waived. So, I put myself into the course but relied on all that Mr. S. had taught me. I even used the same final paper/speech from my high school class for my college class and received the same grade on it: an A. 🙂
I worked with Mr. Spejewski for the plays. I ran the lighting board. I also worked on the musicals, playing in the pit band.
When I saw the announcement on Facebook today, I immediately felt sad. But my sadness quickly gave way to thanksgiving for having met someone so early in my life who truly understood his students, who mentored them, and who challenged them to excel.
If the job of a teacher is not only to instruct but to shape young people and give them the resources that they could rely on throughout their lives, I’d say that Mr. Spejewski received a A+.
Rest in peace, Gerry.