(Charlotte O'Neal, Julia Lawlor, Maddie Benoit, Mia Quigley, Savannah Blanch, Bridget Murphy, Renee Lewin, Julia Roveto, Renee Lewin, Emily van der Veen and Alex Fontana surround Malia Jusczyk as they declare it Princess Malia Day at Duxbury Middle School.)

When I meet someone for the first time, and he or she asks me what I do for a living and I tell them that I teach middle school, the first reaction I get is usually a wrinkled nose followed by the following comment:  “Middle school.  That’s the worst age.” It’s a bit awkward, standing there, looking at the wrinkled nose, and listening to the comment, which essentially is a derogatory statement toward what I love best in the world.  “No,” I tell them.  “You’re wrong. It’s the best age.”

Some people think middle school kids are bullies, angst-ridden, moody and unpredictable. While that occasionally may be the case, I have found the opposite to be true. Middle school students are kind, funny, witty, smart, compassionate, open, honest, loving, quirky and wonderfully surprising.

I have a friend from high school, Glen Jusczyk who with his wife Meg, is going through every parents’ nightmare.  Their beautiful three-year-old daughter was diagnosed with stage IV neuroblastoma.  To survive, Malia’s little body has had to endure six rounds of chemo, nine hours of tumor resection surgery, removal of a kidney, twelve rounds of proto radiation, and countless blood transfusions.  It is heartbreaking.

During the holidays I showed my seventh and eighth grade students Malia’s Web site maliacrushescancer.com and they were immediately taken with her.  We made Christmas cards for Malia, sold maliacrushescancer bracelets for charity, raised bake sale money during our school play. They constantly asked me what else they could do for her.  I believe they fell a little in love with her,  as everyone does who meets Malia.

Glen offered to bring Malia to Duxbury to meet my kids. We had to wait until she was well enough to handle being out in public.  When I told my students that she was coming to see us on May 21, they were over the moon with excitement.  They wanted a party for her.  So we planned.  We planned and we planned.  We had a craft table where kids made scrapbook pages for Malia.  We had face painting because every day Malia’s amazing mother, Meg, paints her face.  We had a tattoo “booth” because Malia loves tattoos, princess tattoos, of course.  We had a bin full of princess costumes because Malia adores dressing up like her favorite Disney princesses.  We had delicious desserts made by our wonderful parents, although Malia was happy to eat only cheese puffs (she insisted on taking the tub home with her).  And we had a room full of the most kind, caring, compassionate, wonderful adolescents you will ever have the privilege to meet.

I have been teaching for 14 years, 13 of these in Duxbury. And I love it. I love our community, I love our parents, and most of all, I love our kids. So, the next time someone wrinkles their nose at me in distaste and says, “Middle school kids are the worst,” I will smile, remember Malia’s party, and think, “You poor soul.  You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Renee Lewin teaches English at the Duxbury Middle School.