Last Thursday, Mrs. Templeton’s 3rd period AP Language and Composition class was displaced to Mrs. Stone’s room with a sub, where a collective realization struck the whole room: the last time the whole class would be together was Monday, and the last time they would have the chance to plan a retirement party for Mrs. Templeton was right then and there. Friday, they would be together as a class, but Mrs. Templeton would be there, so no planning could take place, and every day after Monday involved AP testing or Finals. I was sitting in the front row when my classmates Will Allen and Ethan Boone pitched this to the whole class, and I jumped up to help plan the whole thing.

After a class-sized brainstorming session, we decided that we were going to bring food, drinks, and a present for Mrs. Templeton. In what was probably the most efficient fund raiser of my entire life, we managed to raise $33 in about five minutes, which was spent on several things, including getting a gift card and card to sign. Next, with the permission and help of the substitute, we snuck the entire class out in front of the school and took a picture, which was later framed and given to Mrs. Templeton. Back in the classroom, we organized food and drinks. We brought vegan cake (that was surprisingly VERY good), chips, brownies, popcorn, and an assortment of fruit.

When the day came, I asked Mrs. Candela, whose room is right down the hall, to distract her for us, and she fabricated a great tale of her smart board woes, inadvertently causing it to stop working for real in the process. This bought us just the time we needed as we hurriedly gathered all the supplies in her room. We dumped an entire bag of balloons out, and held them anticipating when she walked in. When she did, the lights were out, and the entire class was standing around the room. We threw the balloons up in the air and yelled, “Surprise!” She was clearly trying very hard not to cry as we showed her the cake, the framed picture we took, and the card that we all signed right under her nose on Friday.

All in all, Mrs. Templeton is an amazing teacher and she deserved to have something nice like this done for her. And she deserves to have a long and relaxing retirement.