Dear Professor Hal Foster,
Some days I felt like I could say what I wanted to say to you, but I wound up not knowing quite how to say it. After months of pondering and gathering my thoughts, I chose to start at the beginning by writing a letter of appreciation in the hope that others will understand how you impacted my life.
I am a broadcasting and digital media student at the University of Idaho who felt the impact when you passed away a few months ago.
You were my instructor for JAMM 121, Media Writing, for Fall 2019. I was excited to learn how to write for a newspaper and online articles. Writing has been a passion of mine since I learned how to write.
Some may think a teacher cannot impact someone so deeply, only knowing them one semester. But let me say from experience—they can.
I learned how to write 15 to 16-word lead sentences, to organize a story with out-of-order information, to cover difficult stories that need to be written, to be sensitive to how a story impacts a person’s life and many other things I could go on about.
I am not the only student who has been impacted by a professor. Many students could talk about how a professor challenged them when they didn’t know they needed it. They could tell you how their career was shaped by their professor’s teaching and understanding.
I think one of the biggest things for me about how you taught JAMM 121 was your knowledge, helpfulness and correction. Back then, and I’m saying this as if it was eons ago, students could receive their written exams or homework assignments from their professors with the corrections and grade in red pen.
I miss receiving the printed-out papers all marked up in red ink with comments on all sides of the various paragraphs I had typed out days ago. I think I grew more in my writing abilities from those comments and wished other professors did the same.
Those comments showed me that you took the time to read what I wrote and cared about me improving my skills.
The email sent out by Robin Johnson, director of the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences, this summer on Sunday, June 14 stated, “Hal was always eager to help the school and his fellow faculty members, and he was committed to teaching students how to become better writers and reporters using his years of experience in journalism as a foreign correspondent and college educator. During the spring semester amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Hal encouraged his students to write personal essays about their experiences, and many were published in news outlets locally and throughout the state and region.”
I enjoyed hearing about your travels and work overseas. I dreamed, and still do, of reporting and doing photography in foreign countries or even places in the U.S. I have never been to. I became inspired by your stories and interested in broadening my perspectives on cultures around the world.
I think you would be proud of me for the work I’ve done since you passed, Mr. Foster. I was hired by The Argonaut, and I work in the JAMM department as an office assistant.
I still get redlined on my articles, and I need to keep working on clear and concise sentences. But I find myself learning, growing and keeping in mind the things you taught me last fall.
I hoped one day to take Reporting 1 from you, but it wasn’t meant to be. I am currently taking Reporting 1 from Professor Glenn Mosley, and am grateful for everything I have learned so far in his class.
I quote my Facebook post on the day I learned of your passing when I say it’s “hard to believe he’s gone, but I’m grateful for all I learned from him…”
I am not trying to put you on a pedestal. You were human just like everyone else. But your impact made a difference in my life and I am forever thankful.
I didn’t have the words to express your impact on my life back in June, but I do now.
Thank you beyond what words can rightfully express and these stories can tell,
Kim Stager
Kim Stager can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @journalismgoals.