I have debated about this for weeks. I wanted to write this article, and then I did not want to write it. I thought about the person, and said what would she have wanted me to do? I could hear her saying, “Follow your first mind.”

When I began my year with my new SOAR teacher, I did not know what to expect. I went in her class afraid. She took one look at me and made a joke. This broke the tension and I felt better. Throughout the year, I had many scared moments but that caring teacher always made it all right.

Just to show you one of her kind acts. A couple of weeks before she was to leave us for good, my SOAR teacher sent my grandmother a letter. In it she told her what a good student I was and that I was a pleasure to teach. This made me feel 10 feet tall. I knew from that note that I was her favorite. I will always keep that letter.

If you talk to each student in my SOAR class, they will all tell you that they were her favorite. She just made you feel that way.

This is probably the hardest thing I have ever experienced. I couldn’t believe that my SOAR teacher and a best friend was gone. I’m going to really miss Mrs. West, but I know that she is in a batter place. I loved Mrs. West. She made me feel very confident about myself. Mrs. West was my confidence booster. She told me I could achieve anything I set my mind to. I feel that my life has been so much richer after meeting Mrs. West.

My heart goes out to Mayor West and his family. I know you all loved her very much, and so did I.

Mrs. Carolyn West will always be in my heart. I will continue to pray for Mayor West and his family.

Kalethia Gines is a SOAR student at Morgantown Elementary School.