Close your eyes and think back to your school days. Start with high school, then junior high, and keep going until you reach that very first day of kindergarten.
Odds are you weren’t picturing homework assignments or late-night study sessions. Instead, you were probably remembering a teacher who made you feel like you mattered. They might have helped you tie your shoes on the first day of kindergarten, or encouraged you to try out for the soccer team in junior high, or possibly even wrote you a hall pass after you slept through your alarm one morning. Whatever the case, the teachers who made you feel valued and appreciated as a child have a way of staying with us for our entire lives—and sometimes even shaping our future.
For Jordan Chiles, that person is Patti Gaines, who teaches Family and Consumer Sciences at her former high school in Vancouver, WA.
Two months ago, Patti sat in the middle of her classroom, having been told she was getting an award and being filmed for a project. As she waited, the school’s marching band sounded off in the hallway, erupting in the school’s fight song and marching into the band room in a single-file line. Suddenly, she broke into a smile, seeing Jordan jump out to surprise her from the back of the line.
“I knew it would be you,” Patti said, laughing and wrapping Jordan in a hug.
Empowering educators everywhere
Jordan and Patti have always clicked. As a freshman, Jordan was an energetic, accident-prone kid that Patti remembered doing splits on the classroom floor between lessons. Likewise, Jordan remembered Patti as “one of the best teachers I’ve ever had at this amazing high school” and “like another mom.”
To honor Patti Gaines and educators like her around the country, Upworthy and DonorsChoose have teamed up to bring some well-known former students back into the classroom to reunite with their favorite teachers, celebrating the support and guidance that made their success as adults possible.
While teachers like Patti can make a huge difference inside the classroom, DonorsChoose has found a way to make that impact possible on a large scale. On their website, DonorsChoose connects public school educators with a nationwide community of supporters who believe investing in students today will transform tomorrow. Educators request the materials they know their students need, and donors can choose the classroom, community, or cause they want to support. Not only does this provide underfunded schools with much-needed supplies, but it also helps teachers keep doing the thing they love the most: Teaching. Research has shown that teachers who receive funding through DonorsChoose are 22 percent less likely to leave the profession, and their students are more likely to pass end-of-year exams.
Since 2000, DonorsChoose has helped raise nearly $2 billion for classrooms and has helped fund projects for more than one million public school educators.
Learning life lessons
Back in the classroom, Jordan and Patti remembered a pivotal moment for both of them.
“I remember a conversation we had right here,” Patti said. Jordan, crying, had come to her feeling discouraged just as her gymnastics career was starting to take off.
“You weren’t sure if this was something you wanted to keep doing,” Patti recalled. “And all I could do was hug you and say, ‘Do what’s in your heart.’”
As many of us have, Jordan carried her favorite teacher’s words out of the classroom and into real life, along with her advice to “be safe” and “make good choices.”
“I still stick to that,” Jordan said, laughing. “And look at me now!”
Another thing Jordan learned? That failure was nothing to be afraid of. In Patti’s words: You get up, you shake it off, and you move on.
“You’re going to fail at certain points,” Jordan said. “Having a safe place like this, whether it’s a classroom or a teacher, [helped me understand] I can just learn from it.”
Turns out, Patti gives pretty good advice. Jordan, who has been a member of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team since the age of 11, tried, failed, and tried again—in the classroom and on the gymnastics mat—until her natural talent turned into excellence. With Patti’s advice ringing in her ears, Jordan went on to compete at the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games, helping bring home silver and gold medals.
Giving back and looking forward
So how do we thank the teachers who helped change our lives for the better?
If you’re Jordan Chiles, you surprise your favorite teacher with a gift she’ll never forget: the bright red, bedazzled leotard that was part of her wardrobe during the 2020 Tokyo Games. It’s now earmarked for display at the school in a shadow box, as a reminder of how far a student can go when supported in the right ways.
For Patti, though, watching Jordan grow into a world-class gymnast, a role model for young women, and a remarkable human being is thanks enough.
“When I can see my students working and parenting out in our community, and coming back to our community and being a positive influence on their own kids or other people, then I know I’ve done my job,” Patti said. “Seeing them be good humans in life, that’s my ultimate goal.”
Support a teacher in your community, and get students the resources they need to thrive at DonorsChoose.org/Upworthy.
