3rd April 2020 

Whom it may concern: 

It is my absolute pleasure to get the chance to write this letter on behalf of Ms. Sarelis. I have 
known Ms. Sarelis since the fall of 2019, where I met her in the classroom of my 12 literature and 
composition class. Ms. Sarelis and I gained a connection the day she walked into the room. I 
could already notice on the first day of seeing her, her empathy, her determination to succeed, 
her confidence, her passion for the job, and so much more. I knew she was going to be there for 
me and help me beyond any other student-teacher has.  

Every morning I had a smile going into school because Ms. Sarelis was always welcoming me into 
her room with her comments and smiling face. There was never a day where she wasn’t standing 
outside her classroom doors checking in on students. At the end of every week, she always did 
her pits and peaks which really brought the class out of the English mindset and looked at the 
world. I appreciated pits and peaks because it wasn’t always about assignments with Ms. Sarelis, 
she cared about each individual and cared about our lives outside of English class.  

Another strength of Ms. Sarelis is the way she teaches. Every day she had a creative way of 
showing the lesson plan. It wasn’t just bulleted on the whiteboard. It was shown through a 
PowerPoint that was more pleasing and enthusiastic. She also a lot of days included today’s 
goals on her slides which made me know I was going to accomplish something in her class. 
Going off the way she teaches, I liked the way she brought Hamlet to us. I am not a big reader 
myself but the way she taught and went through the play Hamlet made me enjoy it. To go into 
depth she had the movie to go along with the book so there was so we had multiple learning 
experiences. Also, she brought many activities into the learning and not just every day reading 
the book and watching the movie. Activites such as analyzing the text, drawing maps, doing close 
reads on certain scenes, harknesses, comparing it to rap, making Snapchat ghosts, and podcasts. 
These tasks that I accomplished helped me grasp Hamlet better as a whole.  

I am sad that my senior year has come to an end. One reason for this is my English class. The 
class that Ms. Sarelis was running. She didn’t get the last piece of her student teaching done in 
the classroom and had to transition it to online. She was the one teacher that I knew was capable 
of taking the online learning and expanding it than just doing busy work for a grade like other 
classes. She continued to use the online adjustment to her creative mind. She had WebQuests, 
blog posts, reading, writing assignments, and discussions that she assigned on the online 
platform. Her online use was like I was just in the classroom listening to her teach. She was 
always there to answer any questions I had and I always leaned on her for help, and that is what 
every teacher needs to inspire to be.  
As a student that was taught by Ms. Sarelis, I can say that she will be the perfect fit in any school 
she goes too. There needs to be more teachers like her in the world. I strive to become a teacher 
one day. It has been a dream of mine ever since I was in kindergarten and the reason is because 
of teachers like her.  

Sincerely, 

Briana Scillion, class of 2020