I now believe that people come into your life for a reason. I can honestly say that I never believed that until my senior year in high school. For my senior year, I decided that I wanted to intern for a teacher at my school. I have always known that I wanted to become a teacher, but I had no idea what subject I wanted to teach. Last minute, I chose to intern for the special education department at my school. For my internship, I got the chance to teach special education students and get to know them personally. During that course of time, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to get to know a student who goes by the name of Karanja and has Down syndrome. He was known around the school as a goofball that everyone loved and accepted. My first impression of Karanja was during my freshman year when I passed him in the hallway during my first week of school and he waved to me and said “hey!” The first day of my internship, he ran up to me and gave me a huge hug! He said, “I know you!” I felt an immediate connection with him and he made my days more special whenever I saw him. Every time I got the opportunity to take over the class and teach, Karanja always made the lessons fun and interesting! He would always make funny faces and do whatever he could to make sure all eyes were on him. Karanja has always believed he is John Cena and sports his own championship wrestling belt to prove it. My high school had him “compete” in a wrestling match at our school where he won and I’ve never seen him so happy before. He paraded around the gym like the ham that he is! For the last day of my internship, I bought Karanja a John Cena action figure and he instantly fell in love with it. Karanja has such an amazing personality and lights up any room he is in. He was definitely the spirit and soul of my high school for the time he attended. Although I haven’t seen him for almost a year now, he will always have a place in my heart as the person who encouraged me to attend college for special education. I now know that Karanja entered my life for a reason. Karanja revealed what field of teaching I wanted to jump into! Karanja taught me just as much, if not more, than what I taught him. He taught me to always be silly and appreciate everything I have in life. I plan to have my own classroom someday and hope to teach students that are just as fun and memorable as he is! And for that, I have eternal thanks and love for him. Love you buddy!