Four years ago, almost to the day, I moved out to California to begin teaching. I didn’t move here to be close to the beach, or for the warmer weather, or even to make new friends. My main purpose for moving all the way from Iowa to California was simple: I wanted to develop as a teacher, and I wanted to have an impact on the children I taught.

Now, four years later, as I take a vacation from my teaching assignment in Guatemala, I am back visiting my old students. Sure I’m here to see friends, and people I taught with, but my main purpose once again is not for that. I’m here to see my students.

And on Friday of last week, at their high school in Rialto, I was able to see so many of them. Students who are now Juniors, Sophomores, and Freshmen came running up to me with huge smiles and open arms. They told me about their college plans, grades they’ve received, teachers they like and those they don’t, girls/boys they’ve dated and broken up with, friends they’ve lost and gained, and what clubs or sports they’re involved with. And as they shared stories about their lives with me, they also told me something else that will stay with me forever. They told me, simply in the way they approached me, that I did have an impact on them, and that my teaching made a difference. Whether it was the letter that one student wrote, or the t-shirt another student gave me, or even the tears that were shed, my old students showed me that my time here in California was important to them.

And I’m back here visiting my former students so that they know how important they are to me. This is my way to show all of them that they’ve impacted my life and my teaching, and that I’m forever grateful. The bond I have with them is more like a bond you’d have with a family member or friend, and by coming to their high school, all the way from Guatemala, I hope they understand how far I would go to help them if they ever needed it.

I came here to California with a purpose, and I feel like I’m achieving that purpose over and over again.