Sun Sentinel: “After 20 Years, Teacher Gets A Thank You To Remember”
By Karen Yi, Sun Sentinel
6:36 p.m. EST, January 4, 2013
Kevin Dorival, 32, sat before his fifth grade teacher on Friday and handed her one final writing assignment – his first published book – and the biggest thank you a teacher could ask for.
It was the first time in more than 20 years that Sonji Wyche saw her student since he graduated from Park Ridge Elementary School in Deerfield Beach in 1992. But he said her lessons still inspire him, and he thanks her for that in his autobiography, “The Courage to Believe.”
“I’m elated that he thought of me. He didn’t have to remember me,” Wyche, 48, said. “I’ve been thanked before but not this big … I’m honored.”
Dorival said he found Wyche through Facebook. The pair decided to meet on Friday, before Dorival honors her during his book signing Saturday at 2 p.m. at the African-American Research Library in Fort Lauderdale.
Dorival, a mentor and inspirational speaker, “was always an ‘I can’ and ‘I will’ kid, a very hard worker … he hasn’t changed,” said Wyche, who now teaches at Parkway Middle School in Lauderhill. “Still looks the same, the same smile. He’s just taller, but he’s still shy.” Click, here to read more…
