After being on maternity leave for six weeks, Anna Basile came back to City High with a special surprise for her students.

“I wanted to make more of a point this year of bridging the gap and to show kids that I’m thinking about them,” Basile said.

While she was gone, she had pencils engraved with “Ms. Basile Likes Me,” to give to her students on their birthdays.

“I just thought that I could ask people what their birthdays are and then give them a little token of my affection,” Basile said. “Just to let them know that I’m thinking about them.”

Planning to give a gift to every student is a challenge, but that did not stop Basile.

“There might be only a few little things that high schoolers really need from me that I can afford to give everybody,” Basile said. “Everybody needs pencils!”

Basile originally had engraved pencils when she taught junior high saying, “I want to go back to Ms. Basile.” The thought came back to her.

“[I came up with the idea out of] sheer boredom,” Basile said. “I was thinking about how badly I wanted to get back here and how I think it’s always a good idea to take a little bit more time to develop relationships.”

One of the first students to receive a pencil from Basile was Sean Phillips ‘20. He was happy about getting such a token from one of his favorite teachers.

“She really cares about her students and this is just another little reminder that she likes you and cares about you,” Phillips said.

One of the students in Sean’s class, Trinity Sadecky ‘20, thought it was a great idea.

“I thought they were really cute!” Sadecky said. “They are something special.”