My Hero by Ellen Cochran

This is a copy of my Hero story. My hero was Debbie Suggs, my first grade teacher.

When I first heard that my English class was doing a hero project, I knew my hero had to be someone special. Someone who really meant something to me. I went through a list of names in my head, but there was only a few that I kept coming back to. One of them was Debbie Suggs. She is kind, warm-hearted, and gracious. I knew at once that she was the one special person. So, my hero is Debbie Suggs. Mrs. Suggs was my first grade teacher, and is at the top of my “favorite teacher” list even today. She is now 58 years old, and is still teaching in the very same first grade class that she taught when I was in first grade. Mrs. Suggs was welcomed into the world on December 18, 1954 in Richmond, Virginia. When Mrs. Suggs was five, she moved to Durham, North Carolina, and has lived there ever since. She grew into a caring, happy child that would one day change the lives of so many young children. When she was a girl, Mrs. Suggs was scared to go to school each morning. She would hide on the sidewalk when the bus came. Strangely, she learned to like school in the end and now loves to teach and be at school every day. That’s only a bit of her history, but before anything else, let me tell you why I picked Debbie Suggs for my hero.

First, Mrs. Suggs has perseverance in everything she does. When she was a kid, Mrs. Suggs was a big Duke basketball fan, but there was one player in particular who she really liked. His name was Dick DeVenzio. In fact, she told me that she wanted to meet Dick one day and marry him! She did not ever give up on this goal, and her perseverance paid off. One time, when Mrs. Suggs was in high school, Dick DeVenzio came to her school to talk to her class. At first she didn’t think it was him, but when she found out it was, she got to shake his hand and talk to him. Her goal had been accomplished! Well, almost. She never did marry Dick, but she persevered and got to shake his hand. Overall, I think this is one of her many good features that makes her a hero!

Second, Mrs. Suggs is determined. Mrs. Suggs had a happy childhood. Everyone went to public school, and no one really had many belongings that they had to worry about all of the time. When she was a child, she always knew she wanted to make a difference in the world. She loved to play sports to pass the time in those days. She played soccer, volleyball, and basketball. She loved sports but she realized that there were not many sports for girls when she was young. She knew that girls could do just as much as boys if they put their minds to it. She kept playing sports and did not allow the fact that most of her teammates were boys bother her. From what Mrs. Suggs told me, I believe she still loves sports. Most importantly, she wants to continue to make a difference and make the world around her a better place.

Finally, Mrs. Suggs is adventurous. When she was a young girl, Mrs. Suggs did not like to read. She had trouble with it and was not very good. Reading made her afraid of going to school every morning and getting on the bus when it came to pick her up. She really tried to learn though, and she wanted to be good at it. One year, Mrs. Suggs had a great teacher who helped her to learn to read. She ended up loving to read and, in fact, Mrs. Suggs was the wonderful teacher who got me hooked onto reading and now, I love to read just like her. Those are three characteristics that Mrs. Suggs has that makes her a hero.

Mrs. Suggs has really influenced me and the way I live not just in first grade, but also over the years. She told me, “For the first two weeks of first grade, Ellen, you reminded me of myself when I was young. You were shy and didn’t have confidence, but after those first two weeks, you were in full blossom and you seemed to me like the perfect student.” She encouraged me to read and put others first, and she has always supported me to do my best. Mrs. Suggs’s lessons have stayed with me my whole life and taught me to be the kind of person I am today. I can’t think of anything better a hero can do for you. That is why I chose Mrs. Suggs to be my hero.

This is a picture of my Hero book.

 

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