Student Models and Model Students

(c)Masonforstock

Cover image from the book SEA, SAND, AND SABINE

When I was cleaning off the desk here in my home office the other day, I came upon a collection of student pictures given to me by my students over the years. Many students enjoy sharing their school pictures with their teachers. Perhaps they hope the pictures will help the teacher remember them.

One of the pictures I came across struck me as oddly familiar, more for the pose the young lady was in than because I immediately recognized a former student from years ago who has now grown to adulthood and is a friend.

She has gone on to do some remarkable things. On top of that list is the missionary work she did for several summers while in college. Each summer, she spent several weeks volunteering at an orphanage in Africa. Thanks to the internet and Facebook, she was able to share her time there with us back home.

What struck me as odd about the picture, though, was the insistent feeling I’d seen it somewhere else recently. I finally figured it out when I decided to put my latest book on the desk on a stand I usually use when I do book signings. As I looked at model posed on the cover of the book, I realized she had an uncanny resemblance to my friend and former student. The school picture she gave me is now propped up in the stand with the book, taking up a small space at the lower right-hand corner.

My former student, to my knowledge, never worked as a model. Her focus outside the classroom was always on community service and volunteering. The young lady’s parents, who have been friends of mine since she was a student in my class, are very proud of what she has accomplished, both in and out of school, as am I. She was always a model student and now, when I look for someone for my students to model themselves after, she is one of the first people I think of.

As always, I remain,

The Exhausted Educator