Who is Betsy Sanders? If I did not have the pleasure of knowing her myself and had to do a research paper, perhaps it would start out with just looking at her. Fire in her eyes, sparkling blue—short red hair and a riveting smile. Riveting like you know she’s smart, riveting like you know when first catching sight of her you will never be the same and I know that I wasn’t. And not just because I became more clever with words, was forced to search my smarts for smarts that weren’t there, but because she made me more ambitious and she gave me a dream I did not know I had had fallen asleep and dreamt.

I had the lovely Sanders woman for AP English like so many hundreds of students had the pleasure of having. And like so many, I was also pushed and pulled along by the dynamic force that came to be known as the red pen. Not just any red pen of course but the. It lashed at and unleashed on my papers in places I never thought it could or would, but in the end of the classes with Sanders, I found myself a heck of a better writer and learner. What Betsy cared about most, however, was pushing students to a place of their highest potential—a place perhaps they did not even know they could go. And this is exactly where I went. Sanders thought I should apply to hotel school at Cornell University where my father had attended. She thought I could do it and I could not help but doubt myself. But with her confidence in me and a lot of the red pen, I applied.  Papers, a trip to Cornell and an interview later, I was accepted to the school of my dreams.  Mrs. Sanders painted a picture of my potential for me to dream of, think of, imagine when before I never would have. Together we then created the building blocks for me to get there. I owe my Ivy League degree, my experience at Cornell and a new perspective about dreaming to the master of the red pen, to my beloved Mrs. Sanders.

Who is Betsy Sanders? She is a confidence giver, she is an assurance builder, she is a smarts vendor; she is a lover of other’s success. God Bless her. Thank you beloved Betsy Sanders for waking me up and revealing my dreams.