growing together
Learning never ends By Chris Worthy WNC Parent columnist
A teacher’s influence doesn’t end when the bell rings. In the case of my college professors, it didn’t end when I walked across the stage to get my diploma or even when I got married and had children. I earned my undergraduate degree just over 24 years ago. Scary, isn’t it? It seems like yesterday and now my oldest child is a college freshman. A lifetime later, I feel privileged to count two of my former teachers among my friends. One is a noted historian, and though 40 years my senior, I am confident if we went head to head in any “Jeopardy” category, he would beat me like a three egg white omelet. Joe Stukes is far more than an expert on times past. His intellect and continued pursuit of knowledge inspire me. Learning from him has been one of the great joys in my life. We are both lifelong students, but he is forever my teacher. I still want to be him when I grow up. Don Stewart was in his first semester in a college classroom when I entered his freshman writing class as a totally wetbehind-the-ears, 15-year-old (not a typo) student. He had already spent years as an award-winning reporter when he changed careers. I had no notions of being a writer then. Honestly, I took freshman composition because it was required. But after a handful of assignments, he encouraged me to write more. “You know, you’re good at this,” he told me. I had never heard that before. Though he was only my teacher for one
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