My 9th Grade English Teacher Part 2

So four years after leaving Mrs. Porter's class I hit college English class, 5 hours away from home in a place where I knew no one, a lot scared, very homesick, and incredibly lonely. I was not one to speak out in class. I was pretty shy anyway but to admit I didn't understand would just be too embarrassing. My college professors didn't ask if I needed help. They didn't ask if I had questions. They assumed if I was smart enough to be in their class, I was smart enough to do their work. They just handed out the assignment and expected it to get done. And well....it did.
You see four years earlier I had this incredible teacher that pushed me,challenged me, made me understand things and do things I didn't think were important. So when the time came for me to dissect the assignments my professors dished out, discuss intelligently, and write persuasively about anything their hearts fancied, with a little work I was able to figure it out on my own and come out with a pretty good grade. (I wish at this point in the story I could say I had 2 As in English - but some lesson's take a little longer to get - doing my best all the time was one of those lessons. Bs in college were still OK with me.)
Without Mrs. Porter pushing me to be better, teaching me how to do things I didn't know how to do (and didn't really care to know how to do) I would not have been able to do as well in my college English classes. She taught me so much about writing, I actually made a C on a history test I that in all honesty I should have failed. When I got my paper back there was a note from the professor stating that my essay had nothing to do with the question. It was obvious I had not payed any attention in class and knew nothing about this test, but my paper was so persuasive he had to give me a C for effort!
So if you still can't figure out where I'm going with this I'll help you out. For the last 10 years or so (I think)I believe we have been in Mrs. Porter's English class (only it was Pastor Abbye's worship class). She has been an amazing leader who has taught us incredible things. Things at times we really didn't act like we wanted to learn. Things we didn't think we could learn and things that just didn't seem important. She has taught us more than just music, the lessons we learned under the leadership of Pastor Abbye are, well the truth is, we will probably never fully realize them all. But what she taught us has prepared us for today. She saw the potential that was undeveloped and pushed us to grow in our abilities. Not willing to be content with what we already could offer, and unwilling to except excuses for why we didn't do our best, she prepared us for moving into a place that would require more of us.
I remember sitting in that college classroom, overwhelmed, lonely and a little homesick, thinking "what have I done? I can't do this stuff." But when I took a deep breathe, re-evaluated the situation, I realized I was not only prepared but excited about what I had to do. I still had a lot to learn, but I had a great foundation of knowledge to build on and was more capable than I realized. I loved college. It was some of the best years of my life. It brought new found freedoms and yet with that freedom came new levels of responsibility. It required more of me, but allowed me new opportunities. I wasn't expected to know it all, but I was expected to know and do more than I had ever done before.
I'm just saying maybe we've moved from high school to college.