Teacher Appreciation Week continues with more favorite teacher stories | OregonLive.com

Teacher Appreciation Week continues with more favorite teacher stories | OregonLive.com

Teacher Appreciation Week continues with more favorite teacher stories

By Wendy Owen, The Oregonian

May 04, 2010, 10:05AM

In celebration of all the teachers who work long hours, take on after-school clubs and still find the time to make every student feel special, The Oregonian's five education reporters decided to share stories of our favorite teachers.

We'll run one every day during Teacher Appreciation Week, and we invite readers to tell us their stories as well.

The following contribution comes from reporter Bill Graves.

One educator who had a big impact in my life was an English teacher at South Kitsap High School in Port Orchard, Wash., a small town on the Puget Sound where I grew up.

Harry Oldenburger was a gifted, effective, popular teacher, but I only had him for one class, Bible as Literature. While I enjoyed his class and still remember much of what I learned, Mr. Oldenburger, whom students called Mr. O, influenced me more with the attention he gave me outside of class. The energetic, upbeat teacher encouraged me in writing, in aspiring for college and would sometimes take time to have a cup of coffee with me at a local cafe. One day he even dropped by my home on his bicycle for a visit.

I think he knew I was growing up with a single mom and could use a little guidance now and then, and he showed similar interest in other students. He persuaded me to take money I earned commercial fishing one summer in Alaska to spend another summer with him and a group of students studying abroad at the University of Wales in Bangor.

That trip opened up the world to me in profound ways and helped cement my determination to become first in my family to earn a college degree. I think I probably majored in English and went into teaching at least in part because of how much I appreciated what Mr. O had done for me. But I soon