As the minute hand slowly moved closer to the bell-dismissal time, I felt my body wiggle impatiently as I sat at my seat at the lunch table. I was itching to escape from the room as soon as I could, because I knew my most favorite class was up next. Once the clock reached the three-minute point before the bell rang, I immediately dashed out of the large cafeteria, my legs working up a sprint as I climbed the long stairway leading to the second floor as if I were Rocky Balboa. Exhausted, I tried to catch my breath, as I watched the door in front of me slowly open to reveal the friendly face of the middle-aged teacher behind it.
One of my most favorite teachers at Kingwood Park is my audio-visual teacher Jason Watson. He was one of the best teachers that I ever had during my early high school career; mostly because he helmed a class centered around my favorite subject: video editing. But I also enjoyed him because of his unique attitude that sets him apart from other teachers. He was a mix of that one chill adult you know, and that hard-working coach you see in those movies (which was a given since he coached the golf team as well).
Despite having to juggle two major responsibilities, Mr. Watson never let the stress keep him from putting his all into his classes. When I first started his class, whenever I had a question or needed help on a project he assigned to us, Mr. Watson was always there for me when I needed it. Whether it was how to operate a professional camera or how to create a storyboard for a project, he guided me through my problems so I could be able to create at 100%.
He was also understanding of my workload and overall schedule. Back when I was first starting high school, I had trouble trying to complete my assignments in time due to my heavy extracurricular schedule. So whenever I needed to catch up on a big project, or finish an assignment before an important after-school activity, he always made sure that I had some time in class to finish it whenever I had an extended period. He could easily tell how different my mood was whenever I was stressed, so he made sure to try to ease that by allowing me some time to work on my other classes.
Mr. Watson also has a keen eye for recognizing talent. When the annual (and optional) UIL film contest rolled around one year, Mr. Watson, who had been impressed with my projects, gave me the idea to submit an entry to the contest. At the time, I had a work-in-progress documentary piece centered around identity that I made for my English class, and after my previous idea fell through for the competition, he convinced me to revisit the documentary project and retool it for the festival. After a couple of weeks of fine-tuning, I was able to submit my project in time for the competition. And although the short film didn’t end up making it to the finals, I was still nevertheless proud of the final project.
At the end of the day, Mr. Watson, in my mind, will always be one of the best teachers I ever had here at Kingwood Park because of his chill and empathetic attitude, and his willingness to help and push students to be the best they can be.
** This story is part of a Teacher Appreciation series where students write about a staff member who has had a significant impact on them during high school.
