He hadn’t seen us for eight years; but when we e-mailed Mason-Rice Elementary School Principal Mark Springer to ask him for an interview, he not only remembered our names, but also genuinely took an interest in us.

“Do I remember you?” he responded a day later. “Do I remember you?? Of course! I even remember that Emma girl, and I'd love to talk to you about Arthur. Did you get a chance to watch it? (If you didn't, I have a DVD here. It might be helpful for you to watch it before we talk. You could pick it up anytime.)”

Springer wrote this e-mail with the same thought he puts into all tasks. His devotion to his work and the long-lasting impact he has on others made him the perfect candidate for an appearance on a PBS show.

After Springer was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma two years ago, “Arthur,” a national TV show aimed for young viewers, sought him out. The show aired every day during the week of Oct. 19.

“The producer wanted to do a show about how to help children when someone they love gets cancer,” Springer said. The animated part of the episode follows Arthur’s discovery that Ms. MacGrady, his favorite lunch lady, has cancer and shows the different reactions of each of his friends.

As part of a real-life segment that followed the episode, the producers wanted to find someone whose cancer story mirrored that of Ms. MacGrady and to discuss actual children’s reactions to cancer.

Consulting child psychiatrist Paula Rausch works for the Boston PBS affiliate, WGBH, and at Mass General Hospital, where Springer was treated. To find candidates for the live “Arthur” clip, Rausch e-mailed doctors at the hospital, asking if they knew anyone who works with children and had cancer.

“She said she heard from 10 people about me and Mason-Rice,” Springer said.

Howard Weinstein, director of pediatric oncology at Mass General, was one of the many who recommended Springer. “[I knew Springer was a good candidate] because he’s good with kids, he was honest with the kids at school about his cancer, but he let them know that he was still their principal, and that wasn’t going to change,” Weinstein said.

Rausch then asked Springer if he would be willing to have people from WGBH come to Mason-Rice to film him and the students. “I said, ‘Sure.’”

Four hours of filming at the school produced a short but moving film clip. When parents gathered to watch a preview last spring, Springer said that many were crying. “It still gets me every time I see it, too,” he said.

In the segment, Springer sits around a table with a group of students and discusses their reactions to his cancer. Students show cards they made and explain their emotions.

The elementary schoolers weren't the only ones who thought his appearance on a national show was a big deal.

On Jan. 20, the day President Obama took office, the front page of the Newton Tab had two lead articles. The main fold discussed the first black president’s inauguration, and the bottom fold read, ”Newton's Mason Rice Elementary principal to be Arthur-ian hero.”

Springer remains a hero even to students beyond their six years at Mason-Rice.

Senior and Mason-Rice graduate Sarah Pincus chose to follow Springer for her junior profile project, in which juniors write a report on a person of their choice.

“I chose him because I feel grateful to him,” she said. “I needed a safe place to grow and he made one.”

While following Springer as part of her project, Pincus saw that nothing had changed. “He walked into a second grade classroom and looked down at one girl and asked, ‘How’s your back feeling?’ He knew everyone.”

Springer also knew her. “I came back after six years, and he asked about everyone in my family,” Pincus said.

Junior Max Ezekiel also considered Springer’s constant presence at Mason-Rice comforting. “He wasn’t like any principal I ever had. He would walk around the classes; we all got to know him really well,” Ezekiel said.

“When you got in trouble, you sat with him for three hours and he gave you a lollipop.”

Although Springer takes part in administrative meetings, he also makes it his job to get to know every student. “The most important thing is to get into every class each day; it’s the most enjoyable part,” he said.

“I want students to love school, love learning and get as excited about the world around them as they did in kindergarten.”

Ezekiel said Springer’s efforts exceeded the classroom.

“He tried to make one community, and he succeeded,” he said. “He was an inspirational role model to all of us.”

From the first day we walked in, nervous, to the day we left in black caps, Springer stood by us. And when Springer got cancer, the community stood by him. Mason-Rice students wrote Springer cards and gave him hats to wear when he lost his hair. Weinstein and other doctors at Mass General even ran the Boston Marathon in his honor.

“They were taking care of me, and that was one of the hardest things for me to deal with,” Springer said. “My job is to be taking care of you, and all of a sudden everything got reversed.

But then we kind of turned it into a positive thing, and we ended up with good news.”

Springer went into remission in September 2007.

“It was always sold on the idea that I was going to be fine,” he said. “With [the school community] believing it, I felt I [would].”

When Mason-Rice graduate sophomore Becca Weinstein heard Springer had cancer, she knew that the community would support him and that his enthusiasm would be no different. “Everyone respects him, and I knew he wouldn’t change,” she said.

She was right. Throughout chemotherapy, Springer came to school every day, continuing his daily good mornings and walks through the halls.

As a Mason-Rice student explained in the video clip, “When Mr. Springer was sick, some things did change, like he lost his hair and started wearing a cap. But other things didn’t, like he still announced the birthdays [over the loudspeaker], and he was still Mr. Springer.”

Ezekiel understands why Springer was chosen to be on “Arthur.”

He also said Springer’s strength prevailed throughout his illness. “Me and a few friends saw him on the street a few weeks ago, and he was the same as he was before he got the cancer, the same inspirational role model.”

Springer values his connections with every student, whether they are in elementary school or high school. When he was sick, he went to a South track meet in Weston. “Some of the [South] kids saw me, and they came running up and they gave me these big bear hugs,” Springer said. “And then they looked at me and said, ‘You’re not going to die, are you?’”

It was in fact Springer’s strong connection to the community that helped him overcome his cancer. In a 2007 letter that announced his illness to parents, Springer wrote, “It is my love for your children and my love for this community that will surely bring me successfully through this challenge.”

Springer is a role model for those who have attended Mason-Rice and to anyone else who witnessed his battle with cancer; his appearance on “Arthur” only highlighted his character to a larger audience. “The event [of dealing with cancer] itself was a big thing for this community, not so much the show,” Springer said.

As we all, graduated fifth graders, hopped in our parents’ vans to celebrate our graduation, we saw Mr. Springer waving from his spot at the entrance of Mason-Rice Elementary School.

He never forgot our names.

“These long term connections with students, this stuff means the world to me,” he said. “I love this part of my job.”

And we never forgot his.