In late July, actress Bryce Dallas Howard arrived at the DonorsChoose headquarters in New York City on a mission: to honor her favorite educator, a high school English teacher whom she still affectionately calls Mr. Scotch. Nearly three decades after leaving his classroom, Howard still remembers him as the teacher who saw past her struggles as a student and helped her recognize her full potential.
The two embraced, and then immediately started reminiscing. For Scotch, his first impression of Bryce as a high school sophomore was that she “had the greatest laugh, the greatest courage, and the greatest joy.” And in true teacher spirit, Scotch took the opportunity to teach Bryce—and the rest of us—something new.
“The definition of a sophomore is ‘wise fool,’” he said, and he and Bryce shared a laugh. “You epitomized that—completely worldly and completely innocent at the same time.”
Bryce agreed. While she acknowledged that she was “very lucky” in terms of having access to an education, great teachers, and a supportive learning environment, Bryce also admitted that the classroom was not the most comfortable place for her, particularly English class.
“I had a lot of learning disabilities,” Bryce recalled. “By the time I was in ninth grade, right before meeting you, I was in special [education]. I just couldn’t wrap my head around language.”
As Bryce reflected on her experience in school, she quickly became emotional. During the first week in Mr. Scotch’s sophomore English class, she recalled handing in an essay and being pulled aside by Scotch to talk about it privately after class. Immediately, Bryce panicked: “I was like, oh no … I’m going to be held back again!” To her surprise, Scotch complimented her writing, telling her how much he enjoyed her paper and asked if she had ever thought about working toward having her writing published someday.
“It was a huge moment for me,” Bryce recalled through tears. “Being a student who has any difficulties with learning, it’s really beautiful to meet a teacher who sees your potential and can see beyond your challenges.”
Support that makes a difference
Bryce’s story is a reminder of what’s possible when a student knows their teacher has the resources, time, and freedom to invest in their life, and in the lives of their peers. Too often, however, teachers are left to shoulder that investment on their own. Throughout his career, Scotch said, he has regularly paid out of pocket for students’ field trips, food, classroom supplies, and guest speakers, all in an effort to give his students the best education possible.
This is the gap DonorsChoose is working to close. Since its founding in 2000, the organization has given public school teachers a way to request specific resources their classrooms need, while allowing donors to choose the projects, communities, and causes they want to support. In the past 26 years, DonorsChoose has raised nearly $2 billion for classrooms, helped fund more than 3.5 million classroom projects, and supported more than 1 million teachers nationwide.
“Supporting teachers emotionally and mentally—all those things are crucial,” Bryce said. “But when it’s something like kids in a classroom needing supplies, we need to find ways to do that so teachers are not having to do that themselves.”
This kind of support, studies show, benefits more than just the students: Research has shown that teachers who receive funding through DonorsChoose are 22 percent less likely to leave the profession.
A lasting impact
Nearly three decades after leaving his classroom, Bryce still refers to Mr. Scotch as her “favorite teacher.” But she also suspects she’s not the only former student who feels that way. Scotch’s classroom presence, his personal investment in his students outside of the classroom, and his knack of being tough but fair likely makes him “a lot of people’s favorite teacher,” she admits.
For Bryce, though, Scotch’s impact was deeply personal. With his encouragement, she went from struggling to understand English at the beginning of her freshman year to winning the school’s English department award just before she graduated. Scotch’s influence is something Bryce credits with her career success, as well: Scotch’s passion for artists like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Barbara Kingsolver allowed Bryce to hone her skills with storytelling and creativity—something that helped her blossom into a successful actress and filmmaker.
But beyond school and career success, Scotch’s impact as a teacher made Bryce feel seen as a person capable of success.
“You’re like the first person who really saw what was possible for me,” Bryce recalled, her voice breaking again. “Thank you for making me feel like I could be an intelligent person, and that I could keep up. Thank you for seeing me as a whole person.”
Find out how you can support educators in your community and beyond at donorschoose.org/upworthy.
