More Teacher Appreciation: “Thanks, Mr. Mellon”

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! From all of us here at Education Sector, thank you to all the teachers across the country for doing the amazing work you do, and for making a difference in students’ lives every day! This week we celebrate you by remembering teachers from our own past who impacted us in truly amazing ways…

ES’s Sarah Rosenberg reflects on one of her favorite teachers here:

With my high school reunion next weekend, I have been thinking a lot about my extraordinary teachers at Choate Rosemary Hall. Mr. Mellon, my Technical Theater teacher, is one of my favorites. With his lopsided crop of silver-gray hair and a bushy mustache, Mr. Mellon took an inexperienced and awkward bunch of teenagers who didn’t quite fit on the squash team and instilled in us a sense of community and a love of technical theater. Like many others, I didn’t know anything about lights or sets or fog machines when I started working backstage. On my first day, when I accidentally called a boom (a type of lighting fixture) a bong (not a type of lighting fixture), Mr. Mellon laughed heartily and then took me aside to explain my mistake. By the end of the year, we had moved beyond terminology and were operating spotlights, calling light cues, managing props, and designing sets. Through those long tech weekends, Mr. Mellon, and the rest of the techies, taught me the value of building your own community.

–Sarah Rosenberg