Many of us can point to one of our school teachers who helped lead the way to our future endeavors. My parents, both former elementary and junior-high instructors, encouraged me to follow my own path and discover what was right for me instead of following the pack. I found writing was what suited me best, and a college instructor later gave me a jolt of support to take it more seriously than I had at the time and try and make a career of it.

Here I am. And through this job, I get to meet folks like Dianne Halatyn, an Inglemoor High special-education teacher in the Learning Center.

Last week, I presented her a letter that Tom and Joanne Weathers sent to Northshore School District Superintendent Larry Francois regarding the effect Halatyn had on their sons, Riley and Mason, when they attended Inglemoor. She still has an impact on them to this day.

Halatyn became emotional while reading the letter, which reads in part: “Ms. Halatyn worked tirelessly each semester with our sons and us to prepare them to succeed in every action academically and personally during and after high school. She was able to recognize their specific situation with challenges and then offer the associated support, whether it was tough love, compassion, encouragement or just ‘believe in yourself.’

“Her efforts led to both sons immediately seeking her out after their respective graduation ceremony, visiting with her when they return to town and sharing her worth to them on many applications that require explanations or descriptions of those they admire most or their greatest mentor.”

Northshore School District Communications Director Leanna Albrecht said that many district teachers receive positive feedback, but “a letter to the superintendent is special.”

Halatyn, who has taught in the Inglemoor Individualized Education Program for eight years and was a paraeducator for seven years, said that she’s passionate about all her students — and finds them all exceptional — and is humbled by the Weathers’ letter.

“I can’t take any credit. These boys, this family is phenomenal. I got to reap the benefits of two young men being raised in a family with strong sense of family, strong values, strong commitment to their children. I love that I had an impact on them,” she said. “I said to the Weathers countless times for both boys, they’re young men now, the world’s going to be in good shape with the Rileys and the Masons of the world as our next generation of adults.”

She added that it’s the students that inform teachers how to proceed with them academically, emotionally and socially. “They kind of show us the path and then we just walk beside them,” she said. “I always have time. A lot of the time, it’s not even about academics, and it’s not about this class or that class or understanding this concept, it’s just about … life.”

It’s an amazing achievement that instructors such as Halatyn can not only make a difference for students in elementary, junior high and high school, but that their words of wisdom still resonate when they move on to college and beyond.