The Legacy of Desi LeRoy

I know you’re thinking, who is this lady? Well if you must know this happens to be one of my High School English teachers & let me tell you… she was awesome, so today I (Ethan Stranger) will be discussing what made my High School English Teacher (Better known as “Desi LeRoy”) the best of the best, let’s get started.

To get things started, let me start off with that she wasn’t actually my English Teacher from the start of my Freshman Year, instead, I had Coach Q (whom I mentioned in my Let the Music Play & in My Bullies Club II Posts) for High School English & as I mentioned before, he & I didn’t really hit things off to a good start, since he was football coach, it didn’t help that he would really put a lot of pressure on his English Students (I always thought he felt he was still teaching football during our lessons). 

It wasn’t long until School counselors saw that I just wasn’t really doing so well with Coach Q, so (in the last remaining weeks of my Freshman year of High School) I was transferred to another English class (that happened to be “Desi LeRoy, though she was known as Desi Rankin back then”). I remember when walking into that class, I encountered my former bully from the 7th Grade Bully (read about that in my “Bullies Club: No More Post”), this one kid from these lunch buddies I had & this student (who was part of the High School Broadcast group) who was half-blind - gotta admit, when I 1st entered that classroom, I thought I entering the X-Mansion or the Umbrella Academy mansion (as several students were oddballs).

 

Since I only met up with Desi for only a few weeks in her class (right before Summer break), I hardly got the proper chance to bond with her (but overall, she seemed like a nice teacher, a teacher who understands people like me, even though back then I didn’t know about that Aspergers/ADHD condition, I was usually told by school counselors that I had a deeper level of autism, something in which that I & my parents simply believed it back then).

When Sophomore year rolled around, I had Desi for English (and this time) we really bonded, I would entertain the class with jokes or even do karaoke (heck, I remember several of my friends from childhood to middle school & even some new friends I made in High School right after Freshman Year (like Kat) were all in her class. Often Times, Desi would take a break from teaching & talk about her life outside of school (usually we the students would go up to her about our problems & she always gave us her guiding wisdom), like this:

The beautiful thing about life is - our plan for what we want and where we see ourselves is constantly changing. What's most important is to be open-minded, flexible, and most of all- RESILIENT! Go after what makes your heart sing! Keep up the exploration of life and try to stay in the present; we all want to know our purpose and where we will end up and what we will do with our lives, but what is the point of it all if we can't enjoy the wild ride that is right here and now? Make each day beautiful, knowing your purpose is to love and care for others (because you are so great at that), and the rest will fall into place, as it always does!” 

-Desi LeRoy 😊  

    

To be honest, Junior Year was a repeat of Freshman as I recalled (we did some of the same activities like I recalled watching “a Raisin in the Sun'', then in Junior Year, I believe we read the book, as well as watch the movie), though I recall her putting on The Truman Show (once, I should do a blog post on that). I remember doing a lot more karaoke during class sessions (just for fun). When Senior year rolled around, I’ll never forget going on this field trip (just a couple weeks before the last day of school), we went to Downtown Austin (we took the Metro), originally the trip was supposed to be showing us the ACC within Downtown Austin (but that was boring), after a brief tour, we explored more of downtown (even going inside the capitol, I remember seeing a small protest & several senators), we ate a local restaurant & had ice cream before headed back to the school (it just goes to show you on what a fun person Ms. LeRoy was). 

I’ll never forget hugging on at my High School Graduation, at that point in time, I still kept in touch with her through email (as I was living in Nepal at the time) & I remember visiting her (during my R&R’s or having finally return to the States), she would always give me words of wisdom & encouragement. The last time I heard from her was back in the Summer of 2019 (when I was living in Lima at the time), after that last email (with that special quote), I never heard from her again (though by that time, she had already left my High School & was living up in Loveland, CO, I believe), as of now I don’t even know what she’s up too.

It was sad as it’s been a while since I last heard from her (though I feel like it was my fault that our conversations have come to an end, cause at the time, I was at Rock Bottom & I was scared, trying to the Big Top & I thought Ms. LeRoy could help me like she always does), but I felt like I was annoying her with too many of my problems & for that, I never received another email from there again (and I ask myself, should I or should I not try to contact her as I don't want to invade her own personal space). 

Despite this, I did have a wonderful time being her student (for she was one of several rare teachers) who didn’t mind my class-clown persona & actually knew what was going on with me (kinda wish she explained to me sooner). Also, I felt like (as a class) we were all like a big happy family (who would eventually go our separate ways, would we’ve met again (maybe).

What Ms. LeRoy taught me was that whenever I meet someone, I’m hoping to gain a special trust, a good working relationship (possibly even a friendship), cause if someone’s means to me, why would I ever wanna do my best for that person if he or she is gonna be so mean (and Ms. LeRoy showed that there were several nice teachers throughout High School who wanted to see their students to their best in their studies, etc.)

So (To Ms. LeRoy) I just wanna say (if you ever read this, please give me a sign), Thank you very much for making my High School English very fun & a safe space for me, plus thanks for always trying to lift my spirits (even after High School), I know I was throwing too many of my problems at you (and for that I apologize, it was something that I used to do in the past without understanding that it could be a burden for other people), wherever you are, I hope you’re happy.

Ethan Stranger Signs off…