about Patty Stephenson, teacher at Saugus High School
Santa Clarita, California
In a time when the education system is criticized often, I witnessed an overwhelming response of love and a flood of appreciation from so many of my mother's past and current students... many of whom consider her to be a mentor, a friend and even family. This was a surprise party hosted by two student families who simply wanted to say thank you by pulling together a slide show of past French and Chinese exchange trip photos, letters and video clips from past Chinese teachers and students, and various sentiments about how much she impacted students' lives, expanded their cultural outlook and taught them think 'bigger'.
Given the amount of time, and in return success of a ground-up Chinese student exchange program that she started seven years ago, I'm certain many have forgotten that she actually taught French, and had started with Spanish almost 30 years ago. (I'm also quite certain she is more Asian than I am.) It's remarkable how much of a positive influence one person can have on their community, and how quickly I accumulated so many Asian relatives over a short period of time.
Retirement could not be a better turning point in her life, and I couldn't be any more excited to see what's next. Hats off- to the determination, patience and selflessness of the wonder woman that is my mother and her incredible career.