As soon as I heard about Amanda McKnight, I knew I had to do a story about her.
Earlier this year, I got an e-mail message from the mother of one of Amanda’s seventh grade students at Briarhill Middle School in Highland Village. The mother wrote me to tell me how much her daughter “adores” Mrs. McKnight.
“Mrs. McKnight in my opinion is not just a great role model, but an excellent teacher,” she wrote. “She lets each child show who they are in their work and always looks for the best in every child, even the ones that test her patience.”
She also told me about Amanda McKnight the Survivor. McKnight is a survivor of the Wedgewood Baptist Church Shooting, which happened on Sept. 16, 1999.
One hundred fifty teenagers were singing hymns at the Fort Worth church when a gunman burst in the door and opened fire on them. Seven people died, four teenagers and three adults; seven more were wounded. The gunman went into a back pew at the church and killed himself.
Nine years later, McKnight uses the tragedy in various Language Arts lessons to teach her students about heroes, forgiveness and perseverance.
“I was a senior in high school when the shooting at my church occurred,” McKnight writes, “and the event is woven so deeply into the fabric of my life that I can’t help but share it and the many lessons it taught me with my students.”
Her students are learning, and they love her for her honesty and realism.
McKnight’s story is a timely and meaningful, and her lessons are those anyone can learn from.
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