The Teacher Who Started It All and my Dedication

A Letter of Lifelong Gratitude

Dear Mrs. Moyer,

More than twenty-five years ago, in your first-period sixth-grade English Composition class at Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle School, you gave us an assignment to create an original work of fiction and present it before our classmates.

That assignment became Snoops.

At the time, I was simply a student completing a classroom project. I could never have imagined that the story I began writing in 2000 would remain with me for more than twenty-five years—or that it would eventually become a published two-book series.

Life carried me in many different directions, and the pages of Snoops were eventually put away. For years, the story remained unfinished, but it was never truly forgotten. Neither were the words of encouragement you gave to the child who first placed that story on paper.

You saw something in my imagination before I fully understood what it could become. Your encouragement gave that young student permission to believe that his ideas mattered and that his story was worth telling. Those words may have seemed small at the time, but they remained planted somewhere within me. More than two decades later, they gave me the courage to return to Snoops and finally finish what I had started.
That is the extraordinary power of a teacher.

Teachers do far more than teach lessons, assign projects, or give grades. They help children discover their voices. They recognize gifts that students may not yet see in themselves and, sometimes without realizing it, plant the first seed of a dream that may not bloom until many years later.
You are one of those teachers.

Because of the lasting impact you had on my life, it is my honor to recognize you as an Inspiring Teacher—one who inspired an author. Snoops may carry my name on its cover, but its story began in your classroom. A part of this accomplishment will always belong to you.

Mrs. Moyer, thank you for believing in the imagination of a sixth-grade student. Thank you for planting the first seed of this story and for giving me encouragement that continued to matter long after I left your classroom.

Most of all, thank you for reminding me that the influence of a remarkable teacher does not end when the school year is over. It can follow a student throughout life and sometimes, it can help that student return to an old dream and finally bring it into the world.

Whenever you see these books, I hope you feel proud knowing that your encouragement helped make them possible. After more than twenty-five years, your student finally completed his assignment.

With lifelong gratitude,

Billy Segovia
Author of the Snoops series | 2026

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