High School Graduate Who Sent Hundreds Of 'Thank You' Cards To Her Teachers Throughout School Gets Surprise Gift From Past Teachers
Her teachers wanted to show her the same gratitude that she previously showed them.
Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock A high school student was surprised by some of her past teachers who wanted to show their gratitude to her for doing the same with them.
Minna Yang, a senior at a Minnesota high school, made sure all of her teachers knew just how much she appreciated them since she was in elementary school. As a final farewell before Yang was to graduate, some of her past teachers decided to come together and surprise her with a gift for her kindness.
Yang's teachers gave her a gift after she sent hundreds of 'Thank You' cards to them since she was in elementary school.
It was in elementary school when Yang began drafting gratitude letters to send to her teachers. As she grew up and moved to different grades, and eventually schools, Yang never stopped adding teachers to her list.
Not only were more teachers added, but Yang even continued writing to past teachers as well, and by the time she entered her senior year of high school, Yang would send 74 teachers and staffers thank you letters for all of their hard work.
“She was writing maybe one sentence,” Tana Bogenholm told KARE 11. She explained that she had been teaching summer school classes at Little Canada Elementary which Yang attended, when she read the first letter “’I like you,’ or ‘Thank you for the day,'" she repeated what Yang had written in the letters.
“Dear Ms. Bogenholm,” one of Yang’s latest notes read. “You’re an amazing teacher and will always be my role model. I hope we can still be in touch. It’s been a long tough journey, but I am glad you are still here changing lives.”
Not only does Yang write to Bogenholm, but she also writes to all of her other elementary school teachers as well. “Eleven years ago, she was here with me and she’s still writing me notes,” teacher Natalie Skogstad told the news outlet. “It’s like having a little cheerleader cheering you on.”
Multiple times a year, several teachers at the elementary school will receive letters from Yang delivered to them by her younger brother Adam, who now attends the school.
Yang continued doing the same thing once she reached middle and high school.
When Yang began at Roseville Middle School, she would drop by Megan Altmeyer's for homework help and to talk. Years later, Altmeyer told KARE 11 that she still receives notes from Yang.
"I would say at least six or seven a year,” Altmeyer revealed. In each note, Yang thanks her teachers for all they’ve done for her while offering them words of encouragement.
"It’s very moving to have a student acknowledge you as a person, as a teacher, as someone who had some influence on her life,” Ira Sanders, a social studies teacher at Roseville High School, said. Yang had taken one of her classes, and soon after, the notes began appearing.
As teaching is far from an easy job, Yang's diligence to make sure they knew how appreciated they were didn't go unnoticed, and right before her high school graduation, Yang's teachers gathered together to surprise her.
“What is going on?” Yang said, clearly caught off-guard as she walked into a room at her high school where more than a dozen longtime recipients of Yang’s notes greeted her with cheers and hugs. On a table sat a stack of wrapped presents for Yang, including cards and stationery.
The gifts had been dropped off by teachers at all three of the schools that Yang attended. “I’m really glad that you guys are here with me and glad that you guys helped me grow,” Yang told her teachers.
With dreams of one day becoming a teacher as well, Yang is grateful to have had amazing role models throughout her years in school. "They are still changing the world and I want them to know that."
Nia Tipton is a Brooklyn-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.