Mr. White is quite different to me. I had a lot of anger inside of me, when I first met him. I've lived my whole life in Spanish Harlem, but in my neighborhood, there are shoot-ups all the time, which is terrible. I know kids who have been shot or beaten up. I have some friends who ended up in prison. I could have ended up that way, too, but Mr. White wouldn't let that happen.
Mr. White worked long time, making sure I did my work. With him company my grades rose. In fact, the scores of our whole class rose. One day, he took our class to see The Phantom of the Opera, and it was the first time some kids had ever been out of Harlem. Before the show, he treated us to dinner at a restaurant and taught us not to talk with our mouths full. We did not want to let him down.
Mr. White was selected as Disney's 2000 Teacher of the Year. He said he would draw three names out of a hat; those students would go with him to Los Angles to get the award. But when the time came to draw names, Mr. White said, "You're all going."
On graduation day, there were a lot of tears. We didn't want his class to end. In 2001, he moved to Atlanta, but he always kept in contact. He started giving lectures about education, and wrote a bestselling book based on his classroom rules, The Essential 55. In 2003, Mr. White took some of us on a trip to South Africa to deliver school supplies and visit orphanages. It was the most amazing experience of my life. It's now my dream to one day start a group of women's clubs, helping people from all backgrounds.
