Letter from President Obama....About his 5th Grade Teacher

   President Obama writes "I credit my education to Ms. Mabel Hefty, just as much as any institution of higher learning.

   When I entered Ms. Hefty's fifth-grade class at Punahou School in the fall of 1977,
I was just a kid with a funny name in a new school, feeling a little out of place, hoping to fit in like anyone else.

   The first time she called on me, I wished she hadn't. In fact, I wished I were just about anywhere else but at that desk, in that room of children staring at me.

   But over the course of that year, Ms. Hefty taught me that I had something to say -- not in spite of my differences, but because of them.

    She made every single student in that class feel special.

    And she reinforced that essential value of empathy that my mother and my grandparents had taught me.  That is something I carry with me every day as President.

   This is the simple and undeniable power of a good teacher.  This is a story that every single kid in this country, regardless of background or station in life, should be able to tell.

   Sharing stories like these helps underline the vital importance of fighting for that reality. Share your with others like this.

    President Barack Obama