News and Insights

FINN Global EDU Celebrates Teacher Appreciation Week

May 6, 2025

Writing about the teachers who made a difference in our lives was the perfect way for us to recognize Teacher Appreciation Week. Maybe reading about all the different ways the members of our Global Education Practice team are grateful for our teachers will inspire you to thank a teacher in your life this week, too. 

Thanks to the Teachers Who Ignited Our Curiosity

Thank You for Challenging Me Every Day. Karen DiBraccio threatened to throw us out of her classroom window for using imprecise words like “thing.” I have never been as challenged as I was in my three years of elementary school in Mrs. DiBraccio’s classroom. She taught us to think intentionally, creatively and strategically. We designed logic puzzles, marketed board games, tracked and analyzed data, read, acted, wrote, edited, rewrote and edited more; every day was something new and something challenging. All students deserve to be pushed to genuinely want to struggle through writing in the way Mrs. DiBraccio pushed me. 

– Rebecca Oss

Thank you for Connecting the Past to the Present. My junior high social studies teacher, Mr. Quinn, was one of the best: patient, kind, enthusiastic, and genuinely interested in his students’ overall well-being. He was determined to make us see how the events of the past directly correlated with what was happening in the present. He made us feel that we were members of a global citizenry, even as a bunch of preteens in Brooklyn, NY.

In Mr. Quinn’s classroom one of his main lessons was that if we want a better future, we need to learn from our shared histories. 

So many years later, that lesson is just as relevant today. In fact, connecting the dots between what’s happening in the world and our clients’ academic research is key to what we do here every day at FINN. So, another thank you to Mr. Quinn, for helping jumpstart that skill set before I knew I’d need it!  

–Bri O’Donnell

Thank You for Teaching Me to Read the News Every Day. In 10th grade, my world history teacher, Mr. Moscow, had a slightly terrifying but surprisingly effective routine. Every single day, we were quizzed on the front page of The New York Times. At the time, it felt intense, but now I’m glad he did it. In fact, those quizzes were quietly guiding me toward the kind of career I’d grow to love. That daily habit of reading the news stuck with me, and it’s become a cornerstone of my work in media relations. Looking back, those pop quizzes might’ve been the first clue that I was heading in the right direction.

–Patricia Stapor

Thank You for Involving Me. When I worked on the school newspaper in high school, our advisor was Ms. Deornellas. She took time with every one of us to help with our writing and editing—asking us questions and pushing us to dig deeper. Along the way, she inspired a love of news in many students, including myself. Her teaching went beyond just instruction, and I’m so grateful for how much she cared. The best teachers don’t just convey information, they challenge students to learn and grow. I like Benjamin Franklin’s quote: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” 

–Tess McArdle

Thank You for Exploring Every Side of a Story. Mrs. Caspe, my eighth grade history teacher, lit a spark in me that has never gone out. Her passion for history was absolutely contagious. She delivered riveting lectures on American and world events, guiding us through complex material with clarity and excitement. 

She brought history to life by demanding we explore all sides of a story. She asked us to consider what rights all people have— to survive, to thrive, to be heard. Whether we were discussing the U.S. Constitution or Hiroshima, she challenged us to hold multiple perspectives at once and to wrestle with history’s more difficult questions. 

She taught us that history isn’t about choosing a side or cherry-picking for convenient truths. It’s about understanding the world in all its complexity — and caring enough to ask tough questions and listen with an open heart to the answers. 

–Jacqui Lipson

Thank You for Igniting my Love of Literature. Keats, Byron, Shakespeare and above all Jane Austen. Dympna Joyce gave me a deep appreciation for the writers who shaped my worldview as a lifelong student of literature. She taught English literature at a huge New York City public high school to kids who spoke about a dozen different languages when they got home.

She transported her students across time and space, away from the gritty streets of our working-class neighborhood to introduce us to timeless characters like the indomitable Miss Elizabeth Bennet; she even had us memorize soliloquies from Macbeth and Hamlet. Together we frolicked with Blake and Wordsworth. We journeyed to the deep fields and heaths of the Brontë sisters. Her devotion to teaching and her knowledge of texts were gifts that have illuminated my life as a reader.

Today, she is buried in her beloved Ireland, and I can only hope to one day honor her memory and all that she has sown into my soul with a visit and a graveside reading of Yeats.

–Marina Stenos

Thanks to the Teachers for the Life Lessons, Too

Thank You for Inspiring Me to Imagine my Future. Mrs. Carter, my high school health science teacher, gave me two important lessons: how to perform CPR and how to accept that the future isn’t mine to predict. I didn’t believe her until she challenged me to write a letter to my future self.

I had a clear vision of how my future would play out. I’d be living in a cute apartment in New York City with a cute dog and preparing for medical school. My younger self painted a clear picture of who she wanted me to be, but when I received the letter five years later, I realized that my Mrs. Carter was right. 

She helped me accept that I can’t plan out every detail of my life. After all, sometimes it’s better to live in the moment and see where life takes you. 

– Alyx Bowles

Thank You for Revealing my Strengths. I was not a good student in high school. I’d refuse to participate, and often used class time to create fictional worlds in the margin of my notes. 

Then came Ms. Nicole Parker. 

She was a no-nonsense educator who created a safe environment for me to come out of my shell. She didn’t let me off the hook, but she did encourage me to keep writing (albeit not during class). She is one of the reasons I found my way into public relations. She helped me see that my love for storytelling had a place in the real world through various means of communication. 

What she gave me was more than just encouragement; she provided me with the roadmap to take my hobby and turn it into a meaningful career, and I’ve been following it ever since. I hope she knows the immense impact she had.

– Stephanie Morris

Thank You for Showing Us Light in Darkness. During my senior year of high school, I took Thanatology—the study of death, dying, and grief—with Mr. Heideman. It was a dark subject, especially since it was taught by a man with terminal cancer, but his goal was to make everyone more comfortable talking about the one certainty of life: We will all die.  

We explored how death and loss are portrayed in literature, film, and art, and how this influences our own perceptions and ideas. Mr. Heideman courageously used his own battle with cancer as a powerful lens through which we could interpret the content. We began using personal lenses of our own, weaving our own experiences into class discussion. The classroom became a community and safe space to share.  

Death and loss are complicated themes, and I’m forever grateful to Mr. Heideman for taking them on in our class. What I learned about the inevitability of loss, and—more importantly—the value of connection to the people in our lives will always stay with me.

– Morgan Livingston

Thank You for Making Us All Feel Seen and Heard. No teacher has made a bigger impact on me than Dr. Stephanie Smith at Virginia Tech, who I was lucky enough to take several PR courses with. She kept things real in the classroom by showing up as herself, which built a level of comfort for all of us. She cared beyond just our grades; she made us feel seen and heard and we were excited to show up and learn. 

She was also the instructor for my independent study. She didn’t just teach the material; she paid attention to me as a person. If I shared small updates with her about my life, weeks or even months later, she would remember and reference those conversations. This amazed me, considering the number of other students she had along with her busy schedule. Her influence has extended far beyond anything she put on the syllabus.

– Ryan Chandler

Thank You to Mr. B, my Grandfather. I’ve always been inspired by my grandfather, Charles Biesecker, who taught middle school science for 34 years in Hanover, Pennsylvania. I knew him as Pop, but to his students, he was “Mr. B.” Throughout my childhood, he nurtured my curiosity and inquisitive nature, a mindset I’ve carried through my education and into my professional life. He had a remarkable ability to make each of his students feel seen and celebrated.

One of his signature phrases was a simple reminder he often shared in the hallway or at the end of class: “Be nice.” Such a short, straightforward message, yet it captures one of the most important lessons I’ve learned from him: the power of kindness. Although I chose a career path very different from his, the stories he shared and the values he lived by have shaped me into the person I am today.

– Alex Blumenthal

Thank You for Teaching Us So Much More Than the ABCs. In elementary school, my teacher handed out a worksheet and told us to read the instructions, and that whoever finished the assignment first would get a prize. Most of the class, myself included, worked our way through the numbered instructions (which required mostly doodling). I was shocked as one classmate with a blank paper claimed they were finished with the assignment.

Turned out, they had followed the teacher’s directions and read all of the instructions before starting. The last list item directed us to “not complete any of the previous instructions.” 

We celebrate teachers for the academic lessons they provide, but I also like to think about the life lessons I’ve learned from my teachers on National Teachers’ Day, whether it’s a lesson in actually reading instructions, tying your shoes, or eating a cupcake like a sandwich. 

– Leah Van Blaricom

Thanks to Every Teacher–the Heart of Every Community

Thank You for Being a Partner to All the Parents. As a dad, I watch my daughter’s teachers with a kind of awe. They attune themselves to her rhythms and quirks. They notice what excites her, where she holds back, and when and how she becomes proud of herself. And they work with us, not out of obligation, but out of a genuine partnership to help her move through the world with more confidence, more wonder, and more joy. She used to cling to my leg at drop-off, uncertain, reluctant. Now she runs in without looking back. I’m lucky if I get a kiss.

This Teacher Appreciation Week, I’m honoring the teachers who do this quiet, lasting work every day. The ones who turn hesitation into confidence, who meet each child as a story still unfolding. Their best lessons rarely live on a report card. They surface years later–in how we speak, how we enter a room, and how we learn to belong.

– Julian Vinocur

Thank You for Believing in Me. Ms. Faulkner, Ms. Dickinson, and Ms. Deaver planted seeds in me that grew into a love for learning and ultimately my passion for education. 

In elementary school, Ms. Faulkner’s activity-centered reading lessons taught me that learning can be fun and isn’t as rigid as we might think. Ms. Dickinson taught me to reach for the stars through her motivating words inspired by our history lessons. Ms. Deaver was our student government advisor and her unwavering support, wisdom, and mentorship made me feel seen and capable. They all believed in me and my potential for success even when I didn’t. They nurtured my curiosity and sowed my self-confidence as a student. 

I will graduate with my bachelor’s degree this May, as a first-generation college student and now graduate. I want to thank all my teachers that have believed in me. I am living proof that education can transform lives. 

– Miranda Lowe

Thank You for Being Role Models, Inside and Outside the Classroom. There were many wonderful educators that influenced who I am today, professionally and personally. Two were my high school journalism teacher Heather “Hughes” Harris and my high school AP English teacher Bob Glidden. They developed my love of writing, reading, and storytelling. I would not be where I am without their guidance and mentorship.

But the most influential teacher in my life I never had in the classroom. It was Dave Brown, our neighbor and my best friend’s father. While he was a high school science teacher by trade, in my life, he was my first coach, a teacher of all things, and an incredible role model in life. He recently passed away, but his influence on my life will never end.

– Kate Johnson

Thank You for Everything You Give Us. I’m a mother of three. My gratitude to all our teachers is infinite. The sheer enormity of the work they do—it’s such a hard job and they don’t do it for the money. My third child is nearly done with high school, and I see now that it goes beyond instruction–teachers literally help us raise our children.

Ms. Vine created a world within her 5th grade classroom that unlocked my oldest son’s belief in his own academic potential. Mrs. Harris thrilled my second son and his classmates when she transformed their 4th grade classroom into its own city. Mr. Grayson, my daughter’s art teacher, hung her painting in the high school gallery show and gave her a reason to feel special besides being five inches taller than all of her friends. Where would we be without teachers?

– Alexandra Clyburn

Thank You for Leading with Integrity and Compassion. I carry with me the lessons of every teacher who ever believed in me, challenged me, and helped shape the person I’ve become. From the problem-solving skills I learned in math and science, to the creativity and expression I discovered in music and art classes, each subject offered tools I continue to use every day. English teachers gave me a love for language and storytelling, the foundation of my work in communications. Civics and social studies opened my eyes to the world, deepened my sense of justice, and taught me how history, policy, and culture intersect. These are lessons I now rely on to craft messages that connect across audiences and communities. 

I grew up in the South during the era of school desegregation and busing. I witnessed firsthand the courage and commitment it took to build bridges across racial lines. My teachers taught more than academics; their impact extended far beyond the classroom. They nurtured understanding and celebrated our differences. In the face of uncertainty and change, they modeled what it meant to lead with integrity and compassion.

– Ken Sain