Hooray!

One morning in the 12th grade math class, I wrote “Hooray!” on the board after I’d completed an example on the board (I wrote hooray because we’d checked our answer and found it correct). I rubbed it away and started writing a new equation on the board when Musa raised his hand.


Musa: Miss Jallow, what was the word you wrote on the board?
Me: Which word?
Musa: The one you rubbed. It started with an “h.”
Me: With an “a”?
Musa: “H.” H-O-O-
Me: Hooray.
Musa: Yes, what does that word mean?
Me: When you’re happy about something, when you’re excited, when something is fantastic, you say, “hooray!”
Class: Hooray!
Me: Hooray!
Musa: It’s an English word?
Me: Yes.
Class: Hooray!

It has been several weeks since the class learned “hooray,” and they’re still not tired of shouting it several times throughout a lesson and loudest at the end. And now if I meet a twelfth grader outside of school they are more likely to greet me with “hooray!” than with “good afternoon.” I love it.