Remembering Ma’am Beth

By Glaiza Bernadeth Pinto

June marks the beginning of a new school year – a time for learning and a time for meeting people, both old and new, including our fellow students and our teachers.

Over a student’s life, we come across many teachers and there are some, or at least one,  whom we never forget either for (unfortunately) their notoriety or (thankfully) their goodness.

Here in Pangasinan, I had known several teachers who are truly devoted to their profession. Sir Domingo Laud in Alcala, Ma’am Josefina Seguban from Sto. Tomas, Ma’am Pilar Idia of Mangaldan, Sir Alvin de Guzman of Calasiao and — my most unforgettable of all — Ma’am Bethela Mendoza, my grade six adviser in San Vicente Elementary School in Alcala.

Students call her Ma’am Beth. She is a teacher who had influenced my life. I have a sincere admiration for her not only when she was my teacher but up until I graduated from the secondary level of my education and even now that I am in college. Young as I was then, I was always amazed that she would always seem to know the answer to anything I asked her. And I must admit, I was a child who had questions aplenty.

I also remember that she was always punctual in going to school, rain or shine. Our school was near our house, yet she arrived much earlier than most of us students, although she lived farther than us. It was painful on my part to miss even just a fraction of a class period under her. There were plenty of surprises in her lessons- the explanations, the discussions, even the quizzes she would give us were always enjoyable. We enjoyed while we learned with her and I can say that such is not always the case with other teachers.

She also taught us how to be strong in facing risks and challenges that we will encounter. She was there giving us full support and trust. She would tell us that “come what may you are never alone”. Lots of us admired her a lot and because of that we embraced her repeated lessons on how important education is.

 I know that her work was never confined just within the four walls of the classroom. Our parents and others in the community also held respect for her.

Even when I was already in high school, I would still come to her for help in my studies and she never seemed to mind if I popped into her home on weekends.           

For me, she is a picture of an ideal teacher. Efficient in all the subjects she handled, she was conversant in current issues, too. She had inexhaustible patience. She never ran out of fine moments to deliver words of wisdom to ponder on. And those things from her had a deep influence in my ambition.

She told us that she believes that we can show loyalty to our country by becoming a teacher. But whatever ambition we strive for, she also said, “your success is my success and your failure is my failure for I am your second parent.”

And I certainly hope that as I pursue my studies and my dreams, I will make her proud someday.

(Readers may reach columnist at marifijara@gmail.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/roots/
For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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