Pearl Haggard, once a teacher at L.A. Valley College, was dying of cancer when she presented a student named Alan Zucker the valedictorian scholarship at a Valley commencement .  When she did so, she told the entire audience that someday  this man would teach in her classroom, use her materials, and sit at her desk.  Eventually,  all three of these predictions came true. 
     Now an English professor, Alan Zucker is one of  20 teachers today that teach  at Valley College who had been  students.  Most agree why they came  back is because  they found instructors that were excited about what they are doing, willing to share it with the students, cared whether they learned, and that never forgot what it was like to be a novice. 
     These teachers remember the old buildings when they were new and few. But community colleges today are not about facilities, theyíre not about  ivy colored walls, beautiful buildings, and they're not about equipment or supplies, they said. They're about good teaching. That's what they found  here when  they came, they all agree. 
     Many of these teachers, in their days as students, started  school not knowing why they were going and what they wanted to be.  Roger Graham a journalism and photography  teacher  for 30 years, came to Valley because a friend was going. His friend said Why  don't you  tag along? Graham replied, Iím a high school dropout. His friend told him, At Valley college  we  give you a second chance here. 
     The reason he  became a journalism major later was because , I  saw all the journalists sitting ringside at  the boxing matches, and at the fifty yard line  at the  football game, always the best seats,  talking to interesting people, going to places, being the first ones to see the movies, said Graham. 
    As teachers, they say they get a lot out of their jobs. Gary Honjio, chairman of the athletics department, says It wasnít money, but Iím rich in other things, non tangible  things you canít  buy with money. All the students that  Iíve met here, all the student athletes that  I  coached, the friendships that I made, what  a great  experience  it was, things like that.  It makes you feel good that you made an impact on someoneís life, and something you might have said to them, or helped them with, made a difference. 
     Many of the teachers were inspired to come back by their own teachers.  Ted Caldwell, a basketball coach, urged Honjio, and Richard Clement -- basketball coach and officiator -- as well as Billy Reed -- administrator and once a coach  and counselor -- to become successful in sports and teaching. What they all had in common was a close relationship with one or more teachers. 
     Ron Reis, chairman of the technology department, electronics and computer science, says he remembers with great fondness certain teachers who turned his life around.  Some of these teachers were an inspiration and had, and still have an influence on students attending this school.  For Reis, it was Max Heiman who taught history that had the biggest  influence on him. An English teacher, George Herrick, showed him the principles which taught  him to write.  It wasnít  so much the English I remember, but I remember he was a very tolerant man, Reis said.  He was a man who had a great deal of insight, and power. . . I never heard a disparaging word from him,  I was always treated with objectivity and maturity, and respect.  And I sensed that about  him and a number of other instructors I had here.  You left with a sense of tolerance and understanding.