The Teacher Who Changed My Life
Nicholas Gage
Nicholas Gage
- Born in July 23, 1939 Greece
- Distinguised author and investigative Journalist
- Writing: ‘Eleni’ and ‘A Place For Us’
Eleni Gatzoyiannis
-Mother of Gage
-Sacrificed herself to protect her children
Arrival in New Land
-Arrives in US A the age of 10 with his older
sister
-Arrived on grey march day 1949
-At refugee camp he learns of his mothers
death
Meets father
-Partly bald well dressed
-Seemed authoratrian figure
-Resented him foe not helping writers family early
-Began to love him secretly
-had to deal being single father at 5
-Lived in Worchester
Greendale Elementary School
-Father drove writer and his 11 yrs old sister
-Whose name was Greendale Elementary School
-Was put in mentally retarded class by grim faced
retard principal
-NO facility for non-english speaker
-Four year later he met Marjorie Hurd
Meeting with Miss. Herd
-writer improved his English and was put in normal
class
-Felt like outcast being looked with
asknee(disapproval)
-Nicholas was set to choose a hobby
-Followed daughter of local lutheral minister
who was beautiful and had blue eyes
-Entered a door with newspaper written on it
-That’s were he met Miss. Herd
Impatient Miss. Hurd
-Miss. Hurd was formidable ,solidly built
-Had zero patient for layabouts(who habitually does little work
or no work)
-Would shout “what are all you goof-offs doing here ?”, “this is
the Newspaper Club !we are going to put out newspaper .So is
there’s anybody in this room who doesn’t like to work, I
suggest you go across Glce Club(society
of singing part-song) now because you’re going to work your
tails off here!”
Assignment
-Miss. Herd was inspirational
-She inspired her students to read about
underdogs the real
heroes instead of fictional heroes
-Writer joined her English class
-Every one was assigned to write an essay about
their experience
-Giving stern look “Nick I want you to write what
happened to your family in Greece”
The story
-He didn’t submit it till the last moment
-He wrote it during spring, sitting in his room
with yellow pad and pencil
-Staring the window he wrote “coming of spring always
remind me of the last time I said goodbye to my mother
on a green and gold day in 1948”
-He filled with the struggle and his mothers sacrifice
Sympathetic Essay
-Miss. Herd published the essay in school newspaper
and competition sponsored by Freedoms Foundation
at valley Forge
-Won a medal
-He got ambitious
-Vowed to find his mothers deaths detail which took 30 years
Struggle
-Joined Boston University with scholarship
-Since his father could pay the fee he took part-time job at
Worcester Telegram and Gazette as well as part-time journalist
-Wrote about a friend who died in philipnes working for peace
corp
Joy
-The article won the Hearst Award for College Journalism
-took the award from John F. Kennedy
-The photo posted on newspaper was laminated and carried
around by his father for the rest of his life the remaining 20
years
Celebration
-Greg Graduates from Boston University
-In his mothers there was his teacher Marjorie Herd with
his father
-They not only celebrated his graduation but also the sc-Scholarship that got him into Columbias Graduate School
of Journalism
Uncharacteristic voice
-Miss. Herd had become Mrs. Rabidou
-she taught for 41 years and retired at 62 years of age
-On Dec 10, 1981 Miss. Hurd calls first to congratulate
for announcement in the television as asymbol.
-Then in uncharacteristic voice she says, “I can’t
imagine a better monument for your mother”.
The Presence of Miss. Hurd
-Miss. Hurd is An honored and enthusiastic guest at Nic’s
family’s every function
-But she misses some function as well as his 5oth birthday
-Miss. Hurds presence was missed
-Greg and his sister feel an aching void as their father had
passed away
-But Miss. Hurd was still there in each and every function
as consolation
The Won’t Take No For Answer
-Few year’s ago Gage answers the telephone
-Hears the voice of his former teacher with tone won’t take no
for an answer
-Gage was to write and deliver eulogy at her funeral
-He didn’t want to do it so he wrote the essay as an
remembarance
Character Analysis
-Motivational teacher
-Incourage students
-Taught about underdogs real heroes
-Introduced gauge about Greek literature
-Challenges writer to face his past(death of his mother)
Conclusion
Nicholas Gage was inspired my his English teacher
Marjorie Herd. Who was enthusiastic and strict. She
taught him to face the problem head on instead of
running from it. Gage was taught to turn his weakness
into strength making him one of the greatest journalist in
the world.
Teacher’s are the backbone of education system. Same
way students are a back bone of the development of a
country. So, students are to take into consideration what
they are being taught. Which in the future they can utilize
and be able to obtain a brighter future.
Thank You