Mr. Nicholas, my high school speech teacher and better known among his students affectionately as Mr. Nic, was without a doubt by far my most influential teacher. Why? First, he yanked me out of my comfort zone. I still remember that first terrifying experience in front of the small speech class when I was in ninth grade. Words were not even required for the assignment. Pantomime was all I needed to do to communicate in front of the other students, but even that was excruciatingly embarrassing and awkward. After we had all finished, his facial expression seemed to convey our performances had been rough, and then he confirmed as much by announcing some of us needed a lot of improvement. I fully agreed and assumed he had to be referring to me if to no one else. However, over that semester he slowly but surely instilled confidence in his pupils, including me.

The next school year in his debate class, he opened my eyes to look at issues from both sides, which is a skill I sincerely wish all people would acquire. My deep love for debate extended beyond the frequent high school Forensics tournaments and on into college where I became part of the traveling intercollegiate debate team. One summer during my college days, I enjoyed assisting Mr. Nic with a high school debate camp. To the present, I can feel myself naturally slide into that debater mindset where I want to evaluate all angles of an argument or viewpoint and not just accept what might, at first glance, seem logical and compelling. While recently looking through high school pictures, I came across one of me in a white t-shirt with large black all cap letters declaring down the front for no one to miss, “DEBATE IS LIFE.” While slightly embarrassing in the present, that shirt does accurately reflect the powerful influence of one teacher.

When I was in eleventh grade, Mr. Nic furthered positively influenced me by introducing me to the judicial system through Mock Trial. My lawyer career never flourished past that first court case, but I recall with fondness my dad being impressed with my performance. And when several years later I was called to sit on the witness stand for real, I was thankful I had already had experience in that uncomfortable arena, thanks to one very influential teacher.

That third year of high school was also when I had my big moment in the spotlight thanks to Mr. Nic. I was in the play he directed, “Phantom of the Opera.” At one point, I stood completely alone on the dark stage directly in the one spot of light as I said my line that always brought a laugh. My acting career was limited to high school, but I will always treasure performing in that production. Clearly, I had come along way from that initial ninth grade speech class!

All four years of high school were filled with as many speech classes and speech events as I could possibly squeeze in. High school was awesome specifically because of one teacher. When I went on to college, his influence continued when I chose to pursue a speech minor. (Technically I started with a speech education major but quickly realized I did not want to teach. Even if speech would not be my major, I was by no means ready to relinquish it as part of my pursuit.)

I cannot imagine how different my life would be had I not crossed paths with Mr. Nic in ninth grade.

And now his influence is reaching the next generation as I influence my own children. All four of my kids have been involved in drama club at their private hybrid homeschool. My secondborn has chosen a theater major at this hybrid and will continue to be in a number of acting classes. This is the same child who years ago was terrified to do show and tell at our own home as I tried to provide some early speech opportunities in our homeschool curriculum. She has come a long way! Additionally, my oldest participated in an Original Oratory competition, which brought back memories from my own days doing a similar event. Pushing my kids out of their comfort zones and building their confidence does not happen overnight, but little by little, speech class by speech class, drama production by drama production, my kids are following the same basic path Mr. Nic led me down.

Other teachers probably greatly influenced me as well, but Mr. Nic outshines them all. One life is all it took to totally change my own.

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After writing this article, I discovered I am not the only one who recognizes Mr. Nicholas’ huge impact in people’s lives. Twenty five years after my last class with him, the Greenville Journal honored him in their own article.