In a recent psychology class, I learned the concept of egocentrism in children; we discussed how it is simply the nature of children to think of themselves as the center of the world. We learned that it takes time for children to develop a sense of the world around them, to realize that there is more to life than themselves. It is around the age of nine or ten that children begin to lose their egocentric mindset and understand just how big the world is. I truly began to lose my egocentric mindset when I started fifth grade. My teacher, Mrs. Mandia, was different from any teacher I had up to that point and any I have had since. She taught the required subjects of math, science, history, reading, writing. But often, those subjects were not what I wanted to talk about when I went home. Even now, those subjects are not what I remember from her class. In fact, it is the other things she talked about that inspired me to write about her in this essay. It was one of Mrs. Mandia’s biggest goals to teach her students about the world. To teach them that it was bigger than Harleysville (the town I grew up in), Pennsylvania, and even the United States. So, we would learn flags of other countries, foods people ate in different places, and the music of other places. Music was especially important to Mrs. Mandia. As a class, we selected a song that we listened to every Friday. To this day, I still remember all of the lyrics to “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers. In addition to culture and music, the environment was a passion of Mrs. Mandia’s. She decided that my class would adopt a manatee through a website and follow its progress to teach us about how different creatures go through life. We learned about endangered species and how the climate is changing because of human activity. Now, seven years later, I am a member of my high school’s environmental club, working to make the world greener and bring awareness to all issues concerning our planet. One of the most memorable things Mrs. Mandia had my class do was write a letter to ourselves as seniors in high school. She told my class that she would mail us those letters when we graduate. Now, a little over four months from graduation, I am eager to get my letter and see what I wrote to myself. All of these things helped shape my fifth grade mind, and give me a whole new perspective I may not have gotten until later without Mrs. Mandia. As a senior in high school, one of my favorite things is to travel to new places and meet different people. I am learning Spanish and hope to study in Spain for a semester while I am in college. Mrs. Mandia always went above and beyond in her job and to make sure her students were not only good in school but good people. As I graduate and then go to college, I will always remember to be curious about the world around me and seek to meet new people; I have Mrs. Mandia to thank for that.