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" is produced in partnership with the Teacher Project at Columbia Journalism School.
For her first four years teaching history at Lakeview High School in the Dallas suburb of Garland, Karen Sowers didn鈥檛 have any big challenges. That changed the day she met Donald Pierson, 29 years ago.
( Click on the Texas Standard link above to listen to the audio)
鈥淔rom the moment he walked in, it was like the director said 鈥榓ction,鈥� and he was on,鈥� Sowers says.
The energetic ninth grader would do anything to attract his teacher鈥檚 attention 鈥� positive or negative.
Sowers always liked Donald, describing him as 鈥減layful and jovial.鈥� But she couldn鈥檛 figure out how to get him to stay in his seat and finish his work.
鈥淲e would have conversations 鈥� always amicable, always cheerful, always positive,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut it was never the response I wanted. I wanted him to say, 鈥榦kay, Miss Sowers, I get it, I'll get it done. I can see that you care about this and I need to care too.鈥� But that never happened.鈥�
Donald, who is now 43, says he was used to teachers letting him skate by.
鈥淭he system that I figured out was they kinda push you through,鈥� he says, adding that teachers gave passing grades to kids they didn鈥檛 how to deal with.
When his school year with Ms. Sowers came to an end, he expected Sowers to do the same thing: pass him on. Instead, she pulled him aside and told him he鈥檇 failed the course.
鈥淚f I gave him a passing grade, he was going to know that wasn鈥檛 real,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 had to be authentic.鈥�
It wasn鈥檛 easy. Sowers had grown close to Donald, and had seen his potential.
鈥淚 felt like I failed him,鈥� she says.
Sowers鈥� action left a lasting impression on Donald.
鈥淚 had to walk out of that room knowing that this lady has given me every opportunity and I just threw it away,鈥� he remembers.
Sowers and Donald stayed in touch for the rest of his high school years. But the teacher always worried he resented her for the failing grade. So when she saw him, ten years later, stroll through the door of the Taco Bell where she was eating lunch, dressed in a white naval uniform and sporting his signature grin, she wondered if he鈥檇 come to tell her off.
But he鈥檇 come to say something else entirely. Donald thanked his old teacher.
鈥淵ou held my feet to the fire and you didn鈥檛 let me slide by,鈥� she recalls him saying. 鈥淚 was shocked.鈥�
Failing her class was a turning point for Donald, it turned out. It had such a profound effect on his life that he鈥檇 felt compelled to track Sowers down all those years later to tell her.
鈥淚鈥檓 still making up for that day,鈥� he says, noting that it motivated him to work much harder.
Since graduating high school, Donald has served in the military, spent time building churches in Africa, and operated his own farm.
He says that failing Sowers鈥� class wouldn鈥檛 have had the same transformative effect if she hadn鈥檛 shown him so clearly that she cared about him, and allowed him to show it back.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 the grade,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t was the fact that I let someone down that I had now started caring about.鈥�
Sowers says that鈥檚 also the lesson she draws from teaching Donald: if a truly teacher cares for her students and lets them know, even the toughest moments can turn into chances for growth.
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