an old photo of me and my class when I was 16 at Showa High School in Nagoya, Japan.
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Since coming to Hong Kong, I usually return home to NY one to two times a year. In one of my recent visits I was heartbroken to read in an alumni newsletter buried in a pile of old mail that two of my favorite high school teachers had passed away in 2008.
Ms. Lynne Evans was an English teacher that I was fortunate enough to have a class with more than once during my 4 years in high school. I never really enjoyed reading, but I will always remember Ms. Evans’ Greek Mythology class and reading The Odyssey, still one of my favorites from school. Ms. Evans was an incredibly intelligent and caring woman, and I hope to pursue my career everyday with the same professionalism and grace as she did.
Mr. Emil Lugo (or as he made us call him, “Lugo Sensei”) was my Japanese teacher for three years. His brutally honest style of teaching and unorthodox classroom humor would be youtube-worthy (especially when he would take out his katana from the closet). His creative and imaginative mnemonic devices to help memorize kanji still follow me to this day. But most importantly, when I was 16 years old Lugo Sensei convinced me to spend a summer abroad in Japan as a homestay student. The short journey opened my eyes to foreign travel and culture, in what was one of the most important experiences in my life.
This post has little to do with photography, but it is something I think about often as I go through old photos from my high school and study abroad days. I wish I was able to more recently share with Ms. Evans and Mr. Lugo how much their classroom has continued to influence my life.
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