“If you really love being with students, then it's the right job for you. And no matter what, it's about them. It's about them. You go in every day to be the best you can and to make sure they get the best experience they can in your forty minutes, or however long you're with the children for that day. That's all that matters, because (…) if you teach for a full career, you're going to go through hundreds of classes, but they're going to see you for the first time and you're going to leave a big impact on them. Your goal is to leave the impact—or just the memory, ‘Oh, I had that teacher. That class was awesome’, or ‘I learned so much that was so useful for me when I became XYZ.’”
“If that's what you want out of your career, and that's what brings you joy, then be a teacher. Don't listen to anybody else because they don't understand how impactful that is.”
“I don't care how much money somebody else makes. I know what I do and I know how much joy it is when I see that student years down the line and they say, ‘Oh, yeah, I'm doing great because of what you've done.’ You can't buy that. You can't fabricate that. Those moments are the moments that you chase.”
“When I'm just driving, I see a kid in a car, and they wave to me from their car, I'm just excited. My mouth is open. I'm waving at them (…) and it looks silly, but (…) that's why—that's why you do it.”
“[A professor] said to me (…) ‘If you weren't a cool kid in high school, become a teacher. You will become the coolest kid in school.’ And I thought to myself, I wonder if that's really true? Oh, [they were] right.”
“I get it. I get what that rush is. I wouldn't trade that for the world.”