Everybody’s Had a Teacher

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Every teacher at Miami University started as a student in someone else’s classroom. This World Teachers’ Day — which is celebrated annually on Oct. 5 — two of Miami’s future teachers, Kiera Dublin ’27 and Kathryn Fischer ’26, look back at the teachers who shaped them and forward to the ones they’re becoming. 

Last semester, Kiera Dublin sent a message she’d been meaning to send for years. It went to her second-grade teacher, thanking her for everything she’d given her without ever fully realizing it. Kiera didn’t know what to expect. What she got back was gratitude and the start of a relationship they’ve kept up ever since.

Some teachers, you don’t forget.

What it means to be a teacher

Teaching looks different in every life stage. 

For Kathryn Fischer, having someone to encourage her to go abroad in college made a huge impact. She described her relationship with her high school French teacher. “She instilled a lot of global citizenship beliefs in us,” Kathryn said. 

She had this teacher for six years and traces much of her experience across two study abroad programs back to her. “She was the one who encouraged me to look into studying abroad and living abroad,” she said. From touring schools in Costa Rica to student teaching in Luxembourg, it all started with her high school French teacher.

When you’re young, impact can come from something as simple as providing a safe space. “You don’t remember necessarily the specific things they do, but more the feelings that you have while being in that classroom,” Kiera said. Her second-grade teacher was the first to make her think about becoming a teacher herself.

And that translates into how she views herself as a teacher: “At the end of the day, they’re just kids … In my mind, it’s more teaching them life skills and being a support system for them and a constant and a place where they can show up,” Kiera said.  

Looking ahead

Kiera and Kathryn have had teachers who showed them what the job can be, and along the way, they’ve learned just as much about the kind of teachers they want to become. They’re already thinking about the moments they can’t wait to be part of.

For Kiera, it’s seeing growth. She knows how much a year can change a child. She’s looking forward to seeing “the difference between those third graders coming in and at the end of the year.”

For Kathryn, it’s the small stuff. Birthdays, holidays, the days a classroom feels like a little bit of magic. But she knows that magic doesn’t happen on its own. “Childhood is just genuinely magical,” she said, “but it’s only magical when the adults help put it on.”

It’s a reminder of something both of them learned from their own teachers: Showing up, on the big days and the ordinary ones, is what makes the difference.

Coming back to say thank you

Kathryn traces her decision to become a teacher back to something bigger than the classroom. “I believe that everybody should be trying to actively make a difference with what they do with their career,” she said, “and I think education is the gateway to making a difference in every aspect of life.” 

That belief didn’t come from nowhere. It came from teachers who made her feel like she could do the same. “I don’t think I’ve ever had somebody believe in me more than the teachers I’ve had,” she said.

For Kiera, that kind of teacher hasn’t stopped showing up. Even now, in her Miami placements, she’s found teachers worth being grateful for. “Teachers I’ve worked with at Miami have truly inspired me,” she said. “I would call my mom and be like, I’ve never seen a more loving teacher.”

This World Teachers’ Day, think of the teacher who’s stayed with you, the one you still think about, even if you’ve never told them. Send the message. You never know what it might mean to them, or what it might set back in motion for you.

“Everybody’s had a teacher,” Kathryn said. “You can’t say that about every role people take on.”

Happy World Teachers’ Day!