I entered my final year of High school with very little academic credits or community service hours to my name (both of which I needed in order to graduate). I had missed so much school that I was even behind kids that were in grades below me. I felt the only choice that made sense was to leave school and work more so that I could further my financial situation and move out from living with my roommates so that I could live on my own. After a few weeks of deliberating in my head as to what I should do, I had made the final decision that this would be my last week at school for good.

At the time, I was living with two friends in a one bedroom apartment in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver. My rent was very cheap and my cost of living was quite low so I figured within a few months I would be able to save up enough money to get my own place. I had made a plan and was determined to follow it through. I would take more shifts at both the club and the restaurant that I was currently working at so that I could generate more income faster. All that was left to do was empty out my school locker and I would be free from the education system forever.

I had planned my final day of school to be on a Friday. I don’t know why I chose Friday. It’s not as if it really made a difference as I had no intention on returning, however Friday was the day I chose. I decided I would leave during second period when the hallways were empty and I could slip out unnoticed. I packed up my locker and made my way down the stairwell to the main entrance of the school. When I opened the door to go outside I saw the grade 10 P.E class running around the block as part of their warm-up. As I passed by them to make my way towards my car I heard someone shout “Cosgrove! Where are you going?” I turned around and about half a block down I saw my former P.E teacher Mr. Karmali standing at the entrance to the gymnasium with his stopwatch waiting for the group to return. “Oh Crap!” I thought to myself. “Busted”.

Of all the teachers I ever had in school Mr. Karmali was by far my favorite. He was stern but fair. He never talked down to his students but always made sure that we knew our place and that we knew his. He also just so happened to teach my favorite subject – Gym! I decided I would be honest with Mr. Karmali and tell him that I was dropping out of school. As I approached him to respond to his original question, he asked me another one. “Are you busy right now?”.

Well, considering that I had just dropped out of school and had no immediate plans for the future I replied back “No. Why? What’s up?”. He told me that his CS student (community service student) had bailed on him for the third time in a row that week and that he needed assistance with his class. I decided that it would be easier for me to just volunteer my time for the hour rather then draw attention to myself and tell him I was leaving school. Besides, how bad could one more hour at school really be?

He gave me the stopwatch and asked me to read out the times of each student as they returned from their run so that he could record them in his log book. The task seemed simple enough and it was. We stayed until every student crossed the finish line and then went inside to start the class. Little did I know that this would be the most important class of my entire high school experience and it wasn’t even one that I was enrolled in!

The class had just began an introductory semester to resistance training and this was going to be their third time in the gym using weights. I ofcourse had no interest in weight training however I had learned a few exercises from working out with weights a couple of times here and there over the years with my buddies so Mr. Karmali figured I could be of some assistance. As we went through the session, demonstrating exercises and instructing the students on how to perform and execute proper technique I found myself starting to enjoy the class. I liked helping someone learn something new and enjoyed the challenge of teaching a skill to a person that they’ve never had or been able to do before.

As the class went on I found my confidence start to grow with each new exercise I taught. I felt at home in the gym. Yes, I was still technically at school but this felt different. Once the class had ended I found myself wanting to teach more. I was on an internal high. I found something that I enjoyed doing that was actually productive and not illegal or dangerous.

But the class was over, so what was I to do? I walked over to Mr. Karmali’s to hand him back his stopwatch that I had kept on me during the workout. He was busy writing out a new workout program for the next class when he turned around, looked at me and asked for a second time within the same hour “Cosgrove, are you still not busy right now?”.

Check out my fourth and final installment of my 4-Part Series Blog – “My Confession……Part 4″ due out on our website next Monday.

Yours in Good Health,

Nick Cosgrove