Today was the last instructional class I will have in History at WCCC. It makes me sad to know that I have finished with the best teacher I have ever had. I find it hard to think that someone who made me so much wiser than I had previously been, not through enforcing his own views but rather from giving me that facts as best he could has finished transferring knowledge to me (IE- teaching me). He never held back, he never told me I was wrong but rather through this transfer made me wise and inspired me to learn more than I ever wanted to on my own. I know I’m not the smartest cookie in the jar but I can take solace in the fact that he is making those in my community wiser about the past. ”A society that doesn’t learn from the past is likely to repeat It.” is what he said at the beginning of each of his classes. He would probably say he was just doing his job (IE – giving me what I paid for) but my community, my society is better because he objectively give us the facts in a way that will stay with us long after we have moved on to other nations and places in time. He never looked down on anyone (me) even when anyone (I) was clearly wrong. He never reprimanded anyone that I know. He taught with passion in his mind and a love of forming young minds from his heart. Though it’s not Princeton, Harvard, or Yale, he treated each and everyone one of us as though we deserved nothing less. I am so thankful for my time In Dr. Koppers History classes. He didn’t preach Ideals; he didn’t inflict his religious view unto us. He just gave us the facts in the best and most entertaining way possible. Day one he said “I’m going to give you all the information I can in the 3 best ways for you to retain it. 1st I’m going to tell you about it, 2nd I’m going to show you it, 3rd I’m going to have you write it down. Afterwards I’m going to have you tell me about it in the form of an essay. Include everything you remember. I’ll use this to tell how I am doing. If none of you remember the enlightenment I’ll know I have to change what I’m doing in the future, if all of you remember it then I will change nothing because I have accomplished my goal in teaching you all in a way that may benefit you in the future.” he would say. I would normally run from essays but I enjoyed taking and hours and a half writing it in the best way possible. He has this sort of energy that attracts people of all walks to him and he constantly wants you to do best and be more motivated. I consider myself lucky to have had him though I know he may be wasting his talents at a community college such as Westmoreland County (WCCC). He didn’t ever say if he was republican or democrats, Christian or Buddhist, Capitalist or Communist etc. He would have thought it was wrong to have said one way or the other because he was concerned with us thinking for ourselves to draw our own conclusions. Though I’m sure he has his own views, I couldn’t tell you one, not because I’m not interested but because he knows it would sway some of us. He has a very open mind. What else can I say? He was the best teacher I have ever had not just for history but for any subject. I hope I have 20 more just like him before I died (hopefully from old age and not alone. Lol).

Here is to you Dr. Kopper. May your life be long, your students be many, and your ways never change (with in reason). I am so very grateful.–> and <–