What I have learned these four years of high school...

Throughout my last four years, I have been in the time we all call high school. I have started as a freshman and worked my way up to becoming the Senior I am now. With less than a week until my graduation, I have realized so much more now than ever before. I have had the joy and the blessing of having wonderful teachers, and I have learned not only pure facts, but also have taken these things to heart that I will forever remember about who I really am and what I ought to be. I have seen the example in my teachers and even in my peers who have shown me what a life modeled after Christ really looks like. It isn't all about the preaching to people, it is about living your life on a day to day basis and making people notice how different and set apart you are.
Mr. Lockwood, I have learned what a phalanx is, who the Egyptians were, and so much more. I have seen what steps and factors need to be considered when approaching the idea of opening and owning your own private business. I have thought carefully about all the great people of ancient Rome, and have even walked right where they did. You have shown me over these four years that there is so much that I DON'T know and that it's okay to see that once in a while. I have started to realize that learning isn't all about facts and who did what when in time, but it is about the journey of learning that makes everything worth while and worth so much more meaning than before. I want you to know, Mr. Lockwood, that I am so beyond thankful for your teaching me and the rest of my peers since our freshman year. Even if we drove you absolutely crazy, I want you to know that we are leaving here better students, better people, and even better Christ-followers because of your combined effort with the other teachers we have known throughout our high school experiences.
The things in which I have learned are countless to me, yet I know that there is one thing, above all else, that I have learned and meant so much more to me than the rest of it. (not that the rest of all I learned wasn't important) But I now realize that your desire for us to learn one main thing is this: be strong in whatever you do. Now I don't know if you actually ever said that aloud in class or whatever, but I do know that it is that phrase that I have seen a true reflection not only within the teaching of your class, but in your own life as well. You have perservered. You have made sure that even if you taught a bunch of snobbish little kids at times, you were still there making sure we learned what we needed to know. You let us ask questions and ponder the things that we maybe didn't ponder about before-not to mention you made class hilarious on most days, even if it was kind of gross what you might be saying that day.
I want to say thank you so much for your hard work, dedication, and effort that you have poured into me and my fellow classmates. Maybe not all of them will thank you or even admit to the effect that your teaching had on them, but I know that for me personally, you have made such an impression in the way of how to be strong and be the best on whatevcer you do. Thank you, thank you, and thank you for all the things I have learned from you, and maybe you don't even realize what I have learned. I want you to know though, that I am walking away with this: be strong and be the best and stay determined. Those may be the best words of advice I have gotten and they are so true within the principles of the Bible as well. Mr. Lockwood, may you continue to be an example to future students, (that is, if your ADD doesn't get too much in the way) and I hope you will continue to growing in pointing young people to Christ. Thank you. :)