Written by Ariel Farivar

Man, it still doesn’t feel real that Mr. Rodgers is leaving Valley Torah. He’s been here for so long that it’s hard to imagine the school without him. Everyone knew him — even if you didn’t have him as a teacher, you definitely heard about him. He was that one teacher who actually cared, like really cared. He always made time for students, whether you were struggling with school stuff or just having a rough day. His classes were tough sometimes, but he made them fun too. He had all these corny jokes, and somehow they were actually funny because he was the one saying them. What made Mr. Rodgers special was how real he was. He didn’t act like he was doing this because it was his job; he did it because he loved to teach, which honestly made people want to try harder. He pushed us, but in a good way — like he believed in us more than we believed in ourselves. It wasn’t just a job to him, and you could tell. Now that he’s leaving, it kind of feels like the end of an era. People are already talking about how different things are gonna be next year without him walking through the halls, encouraging us, and giving us mechanical pencils. Wherever he’s going, they’re lucky to have him. Valley Torah won’t be the same without Mr. Rodgers, but we’re all grateful we got to learn from him. He didn’t just teach us lessons from a book — he taught us how to be better people.