Dear Editor:
RE: ‘Kids always came first’: Mount Forest teacher taking ‘high road’ after going against the grain, Dec. 23/30.
Mr. Dave Griffiths taught me in both Grade 11 and 12 at Wellington Heights Secondary School. I was a student of his that rode on that “blue bus” and helped with some of the building of the fences at Pike Lake Golf Centre.
I write to you to give a personal testimony on the phenomenality Dave Griffiths was as a teacher. I was never a top student and often struggled through math and science. Often teachers find it difficult to try and help a student learn in a different way. But from what I have learned in my life so far, everyone learns differently.
Dave was great at taking the time to help me with anything he could even though many of my questions were about a class he was not teaching.
Dave is a true star in his field and in 13 years of schooling there was no teacher like him. There were a few that stood out but none showed in their work every day that “kids always came first”.
I hope the community understands what we have lost the day Dave left his teaching role.
Personally I found high school difficult; I didn’t feel like a fit in well and there were few places I felt like I could truly be myself. I could be myself in Dave’s class, he was a huge support for me through high school and the impact he made on me will never be forgotten.
Congratulations on your retirement from teaching, Dave, and thank you so very much for the difference you have made for myself and the many others you have affected over the years.
Travis McDougall,
(Class of 2009), Kitchener