Hans Laursen
I picked a yellow candle because it reminds me of the suit I remember Mrs. Sullivan wearing at Dunedin Highland Middle School.
I was a student of Mrs. Sullivan’s in the 1988-1989 school for World Cultures. She was the teacher representative who traveled with me and my family to Deland, Florida in 1990 for the National Geography Bee. She cracked me up as we laughed at my Dad lamenting the small size of Deland at the time.
She was always very supportive of me and was my favorite teacher that year. It was a difficult year, as most former 7th graders would testify. I was a constantly bullied throughout middle school. But I knew in Mrs. Sullivan’s class I was safe. Even though I wasn’t the easiest kid to deal with, she helped me find myself through that safe space.
She taught me something I still use today when speaking with children in my clinic as a practicing family medicine physician in Urgent Care. When learning about new things, new people, new cultures, “it’s not weird, it’s different.”
I hope if any of her loved ones read this, they know that Mrs. Sullivan made me a better person, and I try pass on what I’ve learned with compassion for others.
-Dr Hans Furtado Laursen
