Mrs. Hedge was a shining beacon of intellectuality. She embodied the best kind of strict and kind nature. She never gave up, but she never took your crap either.
I remember that she had a mole of some kind very prominently on her face. I don’t believe I ever heard someone make mention of it though. She was the kind of woman that so embodied her profession that to make fun of her just would have been a complete waste of time. Generally I remember everyone liking her. My friends in particular were fans because they were all in the advanced math classes where I was not.
Before I joined the quiz bowl, she was just another math teacher. Math was not my strong suit. This didn’t exactly make us enemies, but it didn’t exactly make me friendly toward her either. She was the type with long graying brown hair that was always back in a ponytail. She always had a pant suit of some kind. I don’t remember her wearing skirts all that often. In short her love was math and teaching it. Nothing else mattered. Looks weren’t really important to me, but you notice those sorts of things. In an odd way I think I respected her for it.
Where I did get to know Mrs. Hedge was quiz bowl. She was an avid lover of high school children asking questions no high school student should need to know. We even went to states because of it.
At first she wasn’t sure of me. I’ll admit it, I was a bit of a flake. My brain only functioned for music, and then really only to help myself. That’s why she kept me on the junior varsity team, yes we were awesome enough to have two, until my senior year.
I’m not sure when it have happened, but I’d learned to crave her approval. After an invitational at a career center in the middle of nowhere, she’d decided that I was ready to be one of the leaders. The details escape me. We went, we didn’t win, but I felt good about it. It inadvertently lead to a separate experience crucial to my understand of both myself and other people. I’d thank her for inviting me to the opportunity if I could.
WEWrites 