Wednesday, September 22, 2010

My Boo Radley

    One person who has helped to shape me and make me who I am today is Mr. Pendergrast.  He he was my orchestra conductor from sixth grade and halfway through eighth grade.  In eighth grade he died in the the hospital.  I am not sure of the exact cause, I believe numerous things had gone wrong during a surgery.
    Mr. Pendergrast taught us about about being in a group and how to come together perfectly.  Some of the things you just never forget about him were his sports similes, how he would compare football or baseball to playing the violin or cello.  When I first heard about Mr. Pendergrast I was just a little fourth grader barely able to produce a sound from my mysterious instrument.  It wasn't until fifth grade that I saw him for the first time at a strings festival. I saw him conducting the middle school orchestra and thought to myself that one day that would be me up there.  The next year I finally got to meet him, he was my first middle school teacher.  I was just a little sixth grader terrified of the new school and all of its inhabitants.  But when we started to play I was instantly calmed.  Throughout the next two years our class grew with Mr. Pendergrast and I believe he grew with us.  That was what I looked forward to every morning as I got on the bus and rode to school, I worried about the tests and the grades I would get, but I always new that no matter what I would always just keep playing.  He taught me that, that special kind of perseverance.  Mr. Pendergrast truly shaped me into who I am today.

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