A Graduate Says "Thank You!"

A Graduate Says "Thank You!"

By Jessica Burkhart, Torrington

I am writing this to say a special thank you to someone who has helped me. Her name is Mrs. Deborah Rotondo. She is a tutor, a mother, a wife, and to me a very special friend.

I have been a student of Mrs. Rotondo for two years, and throughout the past couple of years she has helped me through a very difficult time in my life. When I was sent to her two years ago I was failing all of my classes, and not attending school due to my anxiety disorder. I was giving up hope that there was any chance of making it through high school, and I was giving up any chance for a future for myselfâ014that is, until I met Mrs. Rotondo.

She welcomed me with open arms, and did not judge me like so many have before. By the end of the first semester I was getting A's not only academically but emotionally. She was not only there to teach, but she was someone I could talk to, and someone who would listen. She also showed me that school didn't have to be something horrible and that not all experiences have to be bad ones.

I felt as though, when no other teacher would listen to what I had to say, she was there to hear what I was saying. I felt when no other teacher was there to believe, she was there to believe, and encourage me. And when times got tough, we hung tough and she didn't give up on me. For all of this, I want to say thank you.

I do not only want to thank Mrs. Rotondo, but I would also like to thank those at the Board of Education who helped me. Thank you, Mrs. Fern Roth and Dr. Don Naiman. For without you listening to me and acting upon what I as a student was saying, I would still be in the dark and struggling. Thank you for not giving up on me and for treating me as a individual, and thank you for placing me with a wonderful tutor.

Lastly, I just wanted to say thank you, Mrs. Rotondo, for all that you have done and all that you will continue to do, not only for me but for all the others. Your are a true angel sent from above. I want to say thank you for presenting your teachings, guidance, compassion and grace to me. Thank you for helping me strive for and achieve my goals and thank you for helping me reach that pot of gold at the end of the rainbowâ014may we forever be friends. As I cross that stage I will begin a new path to a life of unknown destiny. My possibilities are endless â026 I am hoping to go to college to work with troubled youth, but wherever my path may lead, I know along the way I will try to help others the way you have helped me.

If anyone needs a tutor this woman will gracefully land and will not retreat until her angelic majesty is complete.