This week, Hockaday saluted one of its finest, as meaningful notes and a fundraising campaign marked the retirement of beloved security guard, Kieflab Teckle. Having impacted the lives of students for three decades, he watched over each of us, memorizing the cars of the Hockaday families. He is the gatekeeper to our village. He has always greeted the community with a friendly wave and a bright smile, and hundreds of faculty members make a similar impact from behind the scenes daily. They are our teachers, our administrators and The Hockaday staff. The glue to our school.
They taught us a subject, a skill and even a few life lessons. They remained patient when we struggled to understand a concept and compassionate while learned to balance our schedules. Sometimes, we get so caught up running from class to class we forget to thank the people who devote their lives to preparing us for the future.
Their lectures intrigue us. They make us want to be educated, active participants in the world. The more we struggle, the harder they work to explain the concept in a new way. They rearrange their schedules to make time for each of us. They ask us how we are doing tirelessly. Most of all, they never stop believing in us. They are our teachers.
Planning events, they take care of logistics that we do not realize exist. They manage the school’s image, careful to keep us looking our best for the outside world. Always insuring that we are respectful, they train us for lives as courteous individuals. They steer us in the right direction, even, when we argue that we know better. They are our administrators.
They smile as we walk by; never showing irritation that they must stop blowing leaves off the path for the one thousandth time today. They grow beautiful flowers so that we can be truly proud of the atmosphere of our school. Sweeping the halls, they always move our phones and laptops safely out of the way. They work tirelessly to set up each event just so that it will be as memorable as possible for all of us. Offering a warm plate and sweet smile, they keep us nourished. They are the Hockaday staff.
We often forget to say thank you, but it is not because we don’t notice their extraordinary actions. We are so grateful for all they do and we honestly cannot imagine this place without each of them. So, here is to all of the times that we forget to say thank you, we know that we would not be where we are without each of you.
