As we come to the end of national Teacher Appreciation Week, we would like to share a message recently sent from a Brahma graduate to one of our chemistry teachers, Mr. José Marquez. We know there are numerous such stories but wanted to share one of them. Thank you to all of our teachers!

"Hi Mr. Marquez,

It is Maddy Landi, your old student (C/O 2016). I hope you are well and in good health! I am writing to you to share exciting news and to thank you. I have completed my B.S in Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and am currently working as a Staff Scientist at an environmental consulting company.

Growing up I never imagined that I could be a scientist, let alone pass high school level algebra. I enrolled into your honors chemistry course as a challenge to myself and to take a leap of faith into what I thought was the impossible. To say that I struggled at first would be an understatement, but you did not give up on me. I will never forget the countless hours that you spent during your lunch breaks sitting down with me one on one in efforts to help me understand what the heck an oxidation-reduction reaction was. I can not thank you enough for your patience and belief in me, because without it I would not have found my passion for chemistry and life path.

During undergrad I spent three years researching organic chemistry to characterize the reducing capabilities of a newly synthesized reducing agent. I am delighted to tell you that my research was just accepted as a publication into the Journal of Organic Chemistry! Attached is a PDF of the publication (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.joc.0c03062) . None of this would be possible without having you as a teacher all those years ago. Thank you SO much again for believing in me, you are truly one of the greatest and most inspiring teachers I have ever had.

Kind regards,
Maddy "