The gift that keeps on giving ~ Mr. Goggin

In 4th grade Niki and Britta were lucky enough to have Mr. Dave Goggen as their teacher. He was a legend amongst his past students; everyone spoke so very highly of him. One big way he stood apart from other teachers, from the student perspective, was that he gave no homework. He explained his motivation to parents at the Parent-Teacher meeting to start the school year, but really his legendary status went beyond a lack of homework. He was engaging, he was calm, he was motivated, and he was always present, always mindful. I can easily imagine Niki and Britta having tangibly fond recollections of Mr. Goggen, well into their later years.

For reasons I’m not sure of, Niki and Britta wrote a letter to Mr. Goggen around September 2019. He would be retiring soon (maybe that’s why they wrote the letter), and as Niki and Britta were in Austria struggling to catch and keep up with their German speaking classmates Niki and Britta were even more nostalgic about 4th grade and the ease and fun of the entire school year. Mr. Goggen replied to their note with this:

Education, above and beyond the academic, as it should be.