One of the hardest things about teaching is that students graduate and move on and don’t need me. This is as it should be–if I do my job correctly, at some point I should become obsolete. And every so often, a former student will resurface, stop by to say hello or ask for help with a paper.

Over the summer, I was reading the paper and one byline jumped out at me–a former student of mine, a reporter for the state’s largest paper.

I contacted her, and we follow each other on Twitter. Today, she visited my newspaper class and talked to them about what it’s like to be a journalist.

She was eloquent and enthusiastic, and I was just so proud to watch her talk with such passion about her profession.

So today, I’m grateful for alumni. I run into them at Panera and Starbucks, they send me tweets, and every single time they resurface, I’m reminded why I teach.

It’s all about the kids.