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The Potential this Day May Hold: Helen Whall
By Andrea M. Halpin Leary ’89
 Helen Whall is an amazing teacher. She is amazing not only for her classroom teaching—energized, inspired, attentive and brilliant—but also for the teaching qualities that follow her students out into the world and help shape their lives. I am one of those students, and I am incredibly grateful.
In the classroom, Professor Whall is nothing if she is not professional—exceptionally knowledgeable, actively researching and participating in intellectual discussions in her field. Her students don’t see this angle, of course, but they do see a teacher who can help them read and understand Shakespeare in ways they never could on their own. We would struggle through a Shakespearian play at home, piecing together the meaning as we read, hoping we had something poignant to say to this professor we wanted so much to impress. Then we would enter the classroom, a classroom filled with her presence.
Let me take a moment to describe this. Professor Whall fills a room, initially, with her inviting smile that welcomes you each day into a world of exciting intellectual discussion. Then, she starts to walk around the room—always energetic, always exhilarated by the potential this day this discussion may hold. The students adopt this energy, and they strive further with their interpretive abilities. She asks a question. Someone raises a hand. The conversation begins to unfold: the student responds, and Professor Whall is sincerely, genuinely interested in whatever he or she might offer; she is focused and invested. And her students try to rise to her level of investment in them. This situation produces a great symbiotic relationship: the students begin to unravel the many layers of Shakespeare, who offers them innumerable moral, intellectual and stylistic lessons, and Professor Whall has the pleasure of leading this journey and then watching her students walk alone.
And, yet, she never leaves them all alone. She follows at a safe, undetected distance to be sure that, if they ever call, she is there, instantly, as fully invested as she was in class. Before I ever called, she sought me to talk about my future. She had formed a plan; this student, she believed, would be a good teacher. She took time she could have spent planning lessons or grading papers (which she does with meticulous precision) and sat with me—to better my life. She understood my needs, both as a student and as a person, and thus pointed me toward the graduate school that would be the best fit.
When the GRE scores we hoped for didn’t materialize, Professor Whall immediately called the graduate director at the University of Delaware to insist that they were unrepresentative. She stopped whatever important business she was attending at that moment and called to ensure my acceptance—one student—to make my future better. She didn’t spend that time trying to advance her research or her career; she spent it bettering mine. I find that incredibly selfless. And over time I came to realize that one of her greatest gifts to me (now a teacher) was the lesson that teaching is an endeavor of helping people become better people. At the University of Delaware, others from Holy Cross were already there, and others came—proof that this seeming magic she worked in my life wasn’t a singular act but part of a concert of lives she had affected and continues to affect every day she teaches at Holy Cross.
Her investment and generosity follow her students still further—beyond school—into the “real world.” She is the sort of teacher who attends the wedding of a former student, not the summer following graduation, but seven years after graduation. And she doesn’t just attend the ceremony in the Holy Cross Chapel, convenient to her home, she also joins the celebration and reception some distance away. She sent my daughter her very first Holy Cross hat.
She is the sort of teacher who joins in the joyous times and responds immediately in tough times with focus, clarity, and wisdom. Helen endured many a lengthy phone call covering dissertation questions and frustrations, and she always wanted the whole story, she always had plenty of time; she answered every question and offered endless encouragement.
Helen received another call when the decision between a tenure-track position at a local community college and a part-time position at Loyola College in Maryland presented itself. In the academic job market, any tenure-track offer needs to be taken seriously. We went through every angle of the decision: she spent that evening not with her family, or with a good book, or pursuing one of her many commitments, but with me—one, long-since graduated student. She picked apart the quandary; she worked through my concerns and questions; and then she pointedly directed with her usual kind but firm approach: teach at Loyola. She chose to spend her time not bettering her life, but bettering mine.
Helen Whall doesn’t announce her commitment to her students; she just fulfills it—completely, genuinely, happily. With her in mind, every semester I try to do the same. It’s the only way to attempt to thank her for all she has given to me. Helen Whall helped shape my professional life in a way that has allowed me to enjoy my amazing husband and children while maintaining a purposeful career. She has been my teacher, my mentor, and my friend for the past 18 years. I am incredibly grateful.
A resident of Bel Air, Md., Andrea Leary teaches at Loyola College.
More essays:
Above and Beyond the Call: Peter Parsons
A Constant Revelation: Thomas Lawler
The Critical Questions: William Morse
"You can always work even harder": Rev. Henry E. Bean, S.J.
The Potential This Day May Hold: Helen Whall
Always Be Open to the Possibilities: Ogretta McNeil
The Liberator: Bill Grattan
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