Normally, when you choose to nominate a teacher for Educator of the Year, it's a tough decision. But my teacher, MSGT Howie made it very easy for me.  MSGT Howie is my teacher for Naval Science at the Delaware Military Academy (DMA); he has been at this school for several years now. MSGT isn't an ordinary teacher; before becoming a Naval Science Instructor, he was sacrificing his life as a United States Marine.

MSGT Howie is someone who means more than he probably will ever think to me.  Believe it or not, the first time I met him, I disliked him instantly. On the first day of bootcamp at DMA, I walked into the classroom, and no one was there, except for him and me. I was quite early, so I had to wait for other students to start arriving. The longer I waited, the more scared I was getting. During that whole week of bootcamp, we learned a lot about the school, expectations, leadership, more about my classmates, and we did a very large amount of working out. What I remember most is how much pain I was in and how badly I was aching after the killer workouts. It took me a little while to realize why he was doing this to us, and when the reasoning hit me, I gained so much respect for him. I believe he was teaching us mental toughness and how to push ourselves to the fullest. Plus, when you're a former Marine, the workouts that made us ache, were probably nothing to him.

As we got more into the school year, my respect and love for MSGT just grew more and more with every talk we had, big or small. In Naval Science you learn a lot. This year he taught us all about: first aid, dangers of alcohol/drugs, Navy ships, self defense,  how to succeed in a job interview, what to do/ say on a first date, self respect, and much more. Something that I appreciate about MSGT, is that when he teaches a new concept, he will explain it in ways that makes it easy to understand and relate. MSGT is the first teacher I've ever had to actually seem to understand their students and one who has such a passion for what they do. Whenever I haven't had the best morning, I just remind myself I still get to go to Naval Science for fifth block, and it seems to make things a little better.

DMA is a school that is based of on three ships: scholarship, leadership and citizenship. Whether it's making us pick up trash in a neighborhood, pushing us to get good grades, being a classroom leader or simply just being a good human, MSGT teaches us it all and makes sure we follow the meanings of the ships. When I hear the word pride, the first person that comes in mind is MSGT. MSGT is the type of person who takes pride in every single thing he does, and I look up to him so much because of that. Being in his class and just listening to him talk is so special to me. Hearing his stories about being a Marine is so heartbreaking but so inspiring to me especially since I hope to join the Army one day.

From being too scared to look him in the eyes, to him being the person who makes me happiest at school, I can say I've come a very long way with MSGT Howie. It’s easy to be a good teacher, but it's another story to be someone's role model in life, but he makes it look easy. In my life I have had many amazing teachers, but no none can even compare to MSGT Howie. He’s the one who makes all my bads days into good ones, and he is the reason I love school; he deserves this award more than any teacher out there. When I grow up, I hope to follow in his footsteps and to have so much love for life and pride in our country, just like MSGT.