My senior year in high school our school district did several different things. For one, we moved into a brand new high school halfway through the school year. Another major change was that we went from a 7 period day to block scheduling in which we had 4 blocks the first semester and then switched to a different 4 blocks the second semester. I thought this was a great idea, until I realized I would be in each class for 88 minutes. Most of the teachers were new to this concept and didn’t do such a great job at time management. But one teacher did. His name is Mark Semanco. There are so many students that didn’t like him, but he used that time and made learning fun. I had him for Advanced Biology and we did so many experiments, and labs, and even read a novel called “The Hot Zone”. He pushed us and required us to do so much more than anyone had ever expected out of us before. At that time, I didn’t realize that I wanted to be a teacher. But when I look back at the teachers who inspired me, he is definitely at the top of the list. Ironically, I have been teaching in the same school district that I went to now for 8 years and I see him all the time because he is also still a teacher. I don’t know if he knows that he was my inspiration to teach, but he is.