Most Influential Person Essay

To me, the most influential person in your life is the one whose actions have had the most impact on your life, for better or for worse. For many people, that person is probably a family member, friend, or maybe a favorite celebrity. When asked to pick a most influential person, most people will pick the person who was there for them when times were hard. My most influential person is one such individual, without whom I would be in a much darker place. This person is Laura Walker, my English teacher. Before I even really knew this person, she was influencing me. I picked my future field because of her, and have sought her advice on many issues. She has always treated me like an adult, which is something that really sticks with an impressionable freshman! She’s continuously been a fair teacher who is always delicately blunt with her students. Mrs. Walker doesn’t sugarcoat things, but she won’t throw them in someone’s face, either. It is obvious that her goal is to better her students, and that she truly cares for all of them. When I first entered high school, I felt immediately at home in her classroom. As an English minded person myself,

Walker unwittingly helped me decide on my career, as I mentioned in the first paragraph. She keeps a sign outside her door on a corkboard, and on this sign is a list of jobs one can get with an English degree. Now, by this point in my life I had a vague grasp on my talents and what style of job I wanted to pursue. As I glanced at that sign one morning, I saw that editor was listed upon it. I wasn’t sure what that kind of profession was, so I asked Mrs. Walker. She told me that it was basically someone who read books and corrects the mistakes in them, whether they’re grammatical, plot-holes, or inconsistencies. I was ecstatic! This was the ideal job for a perfectionist bookworm, and I began reaching for this first goal directly after. By simply having that sign outside her classroom, Mrs. Walker helped me decide on my