For St. Patrick's Day this year the Tucson Citizen held an essay contest for Tucson schools in which students were to write about people they had found inspiring in their lives, "heros & saints". One of Ed's former students, Cameron Louie, decided to write about Ed. Cameron was one of the winners with the following essay.

March 18, 2002 Cameron Louie Doolen Middle School

I don't know how to begin this except for one meaningful and simple word: life. Life is a lot like skating. Once you are ready to start, you get up and then you fall down, but you always get up again. My subject, Eddie (Wachter), is exactly the same, yet in some aspects completely different. He gives people the knowledge of how to skate. And that's what this is about for me: the quest for knowledge and the answers to questions. That is why I chose Eddie the fastest inline speed-skater in the state to be my subject. He isn't just a skater either; he's my friend.

I can't say that our meeting was coincidence because I was looking for a person who could enhance my skating skills, but in the end I wound up with much more. Eddie is the fastest skater in Arizona and a few other states, and he is one of the scholars or teachers in my life who has influenced me the most. He has taught me how to do jumps and how to skate fast, and these are all things that took time. When I did it with Eddie, it wasn't work anymore. It was just fun. I found that I was learning and having fun, which is to me a very crucial part of education.

I learned from Eddie that it wasn't how well you could do a trick or how fast you could skate that really mattered in the long run. It was how much effort you put into it and how much you improved, a valuable life lesson if you ask me. I had heard in the past that it's about how hard you try, not how well you do, but I would always think that it wasn't true. If you didn't win, you were a loser and that was it. I experienced what it felt like to not do the best of everybody and still feel good about myself, which was something that then gave me more confidence - something I needed.

If I had to choose from one experience that was memorable for me that influenced me, I couldn't do it. Every time he says, "Good job, Cameron," or "Keep up the good work, Cameron," I am changed - not physically, but emotionally. He is very motivational so, whenever we have to skate a mile, we start skating with an optimistic attitude instead of a pessimistic one.

Eddie is important to me, not just as an instructor or a teacher, but as I said before, a friend. I value his opinion because he values mine. I appreciate him because he appreciates me. When it really comes down to it, I think that Eddie has helped me as a person. He has changed the way I get up in the morning and feel about a brand new day, and he has changed the way I look at life. For this I am forever in his gratitude. All that is left to say is: thank you.

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