Since 2017, Charter School Capital has invited written and video submissions celebrating exceptional teachers. Named the Dewey Awards—after Mr. Richard Dewey, a teacher close to our hearts at Grow Schools—these stories speak about teachers who provided exceptional mentorship. Every year, we are flooded with a brilliant selection of stories told by students and charter school supporters all over the nation. One winner receives a gift of $1000 to a charter school of their choice. Although we only select one winner, each of these stories is worth sharing, so this week we bring you a story written by Rachel Holmberg about Mr. Bagley of Kihei Charter School.
This teacher is someone who I found real comfort and value coming to. Mr. Bagley was my 6th-grade teacher, and I am now in 9th grade, and all of the students that were in his class still talk about how much they appreciated him to this day. He was one of those teachers who was able to connect with his students and make them feel truly heard and understood. During this period of my life, I had this idea of having to be perfect, and it was very damaging. I am so glad that I was in his class during this time because he would have these talks with us called ‚” nuggets of wisdom”. Which would allow us as students, peers, and friends to discuss topics that would forever make an impact on us.
We would get the opportunity to open up to each other and relate, and this built a beautiful loving community in our class. I specifically remember seeing Mr. Bagley talking about a vulnerable topic and getting choked up. This was very impactful on me because our society tells boys and men that it’s not ok to cry and to be vulnerable, but he was willing to show us that side of him. This led me to be more open about my emotions and speak about them because I knew that there was only love and compassion in the room.
From his class, I was truly humbled, and I was able to learn so much from him and apply it to the way I think and process different things. Being part of a world that automatically wants to know who you are before you do is very difficult, and I felt that his class gave me a different perspective on myself, which allowed me to accept who I was. There were countless times where he would tell me that he was proud of me, and that would truly make me want to keep pushing forward and to do better.
I remember hurting myself really badly and I wasn’t able to go to PE, so I would go to the office and do homework, and he would sit with me if he didn’t have class, and it gave me great comfort. We would talk and it was so nice because due to having my injury I was very depressed and it was nice to have someone there who I felt truly cared about me.
At the end of the year, I had all of my teachers sign my yearbook and I was so excited to see what they were going to put, and this is what he said ‚ “An English teacher should have the words to describe the awesomeness of a student; however, you’ve completely stumped me. You are such an inspiration to me, and you’ve taught me so much more than I could have taught you. I don’t think I could be the teacher I am today without you.” Those words have stuck with, and I know they will forever. Mr. Bagley is one of the most compassionate, caring, and loving teachers that I have ever had, and truly made an impact on my life.
Mr. Dewey was the 3rd grade teacher of Stuart Ellis, CSC’s founder, and CEO. Mr. Dewey was an exceptional teacher—he encouraged his students to think outside the box, and made his students feel that they had limitless potential. He worked hard to ensure each of his students felt loved, cared for, and special. He was one of those unforgettable teachers—teachers who change the very course of life.
In memory of Richard Dewey,we’re asking you to call on your inspiration to tell your story: is there a teacher who helped you get where you are today? Maybe they taught you something you’ve never forgotten or helped you understand something for the first time. Maybe they were your ally during a difficult time and showed that they cared about you as a person. Maybe you’ve never had the chance to put into words or video how you feel about this person—the extent of your gratitude, or the depth of their contribution to your life’s path. Now is your chance to do just that.
By sharing the story of your change-making teacher, you’ll have the chance to be granted $1,000 to be given in that teacher’s name to the charter school of your choice.
Submissions are open to students, parents, teachers, and school supporters
Stories can be submitted in writing (300 words or more) or video (1-10 minutes in length)
Submissions are invited between September 14th – October 28th
The Dewey Awards celebrate teachers who change lives every day, in and out of the classroom. Named for Richard Dewey, an inspiring, life-changing, potential-recognizing teacher of Charter School Capital (CSC) President and CEO, Stuart Ellis, the stories received for this year’s Dewey Awards are an incredible reminder of the tremendous impact made by teachers.
Picking just three winners for the $1,000 charter school grants is no easy task. But thanks to the amazing review board, three exceptional teacher stories have been chosen. These authors will each receive a $1,000 grant for the Charter School of their choice, to continue supporting the great work of our country’s educators.
Read the winning stories in their unedited form below.
Inspirational Teacher: Mr. Kyle Johnson
Story by Tracy Nelson of CORE Charter School in Marysville, CA
Why would a 1st-year teacher inspire me, a 30-plus year experienced teacher?
Well, Mr. Kyle Johnson came to our cute little charter school 2 years ago as a son of a physics teacher who was inspired by his father who passed unexpectedly. He was going to teach science and make his father proud!
What makes him inspirational? It is his ability to serve and respect his families and their kindergarten through twelfth-grade kids. It is his genuine kind acts to our students with disabilities and how he connects with them. He creates special classes like Garden & Agriculture where students of second languages and disabilities can connect with the outdoors, the community, the school, and other students.
Kyle Johnson juggles a hectic schedule of center classes, meetings, clubs, field trips, fiancé, and a roster of students with his innate ability to really care about learning and thriving. He offers innovative classes like Ichthyology and Ecology. He oversees our college-bound science students as they complete rigorous coursework. He keeps high expectations for his students with objectives that can be met. His students feel challenged and engaged. They look forward to Mr. Johnson’s sense of humor and cunning ability to be excited about the subject matter. Students and parents trust him with their concerns, and he listens.
I observe his daily acts of kindness when a student feels awkward during episodes of autistic fits. He gently smiles and encourages and supports the student to continue working through class. I witness his gentle demeanor with the littlest of students as he guides them through their ABCs. I watch him challenge his gifted students with thinking outside the box and current research. I hear him comforting and cheering his virtual students through their science lessons and tutoring sessions. He can go from reading, “If you give a mouse a cookie…” to spouting the standard deviations in fish species populations.
The staff at CORE Charter School look to this greenie for ideas in coping with students, technology, and lesson planning. He keeps a caring, humorous nature as sports competitions break out among the staff rivals. As due dates and difficulties are faced while completing record deadlines, you can hear him sing to the grading system to encourage it to allow his submissions to go through.
Kyle walks his new families through the independent study program with ease and organization. His families feel heard and connected to the school because Kyle knows the K-12 curriculum and hears their concerns. He adapts, adjusts, but continues to hold families accountable.
Ever since he joined our school there is happiness in the halls and humor around the corner. In a time like this, we need all the smiles and kindness we can get, and Kyle Johnson offers this. Why am I inspired by Kyle Johnson? It is because he is the teacher we can only hope to be.
Inspirational Teacher: Katie Tautphaeus
Story by Dottie Abshire from Global Village Academy of Northglenn, CO
Joy is contagious. Infectious, even. And when a teacher is joyful, the classroom morphs from prison to playground in an instant.
School was always my escape from home. I had a tumultuous upbringing, but I could count on the stability of a schedule, dependable adults, and the comfort of books at school. Between the ages of 5 and 15, I attended 17 different schools in three different states. Each transition was a struggle. Because I was inevitably the new girl, floundering in the increasingly difficult social dynamics that come with growing up, I was labeled shy. I could be found in between the pages of chapter books before I could tie my own shoes. I was regularly pegged as “the smart girl” in each class and I relished the label because it gave me a place in the dynamic.
In the 8th grade, I attended Staley Middle School in Frisco, Texas, and I was enrolled in Mrs. Katie Tautphaeus’ English class. Mrs. Tautphaeus was a blonde, spunky, and medium-young teacher. She taught with reckless abandon, making it obvious to everyone that she truly loved doing what she did. She made sentence structure a scintillating experience, turned grammar into a game, and made me fall in love with writing. To this day, I still love diagraming sentences! Her energy was a contagion in our class, her joy and love for learning sparked an eruption of creativity in my class. I adored Mrs. Tautphaeus.
Early in the school year, I arrived at school with a black eye. My other teachers questioned me, of course, but I had a beautiful story concocted, which they seemed to buy: hook, line, and sinker. But when I got to my favorite class, English, and Mrs. Tautphaeus asked me what happened, I struggled with my carefully chosen words, not wanting to lie to my most adored teacher. Instead of answering with the truth, I simply replied, “I can’t tell you, ma’am. Whatever I could tell you wouldn’t be the truth anyway.” Mrs. Tautphaeus raised an eyebrow and patted my shoulder in response.
Of course, she had to report her suspicions. As a teacher, I realize now that she was under a legal obligation to do so, but the events that followed were traumatic. The counselor called in my mother and we sat in the same room while I anxiously answered questions about my injury as truthfully as I felt I could without divulging what really happened. For months afterward, I carefully avoided drawing attention to myself, retreating into a quiet version of myself, withdrawn and alone. I hoped no one would notice me, or try to follow up on the events that transpired, but secretly I wished to be noticed and known. But Mrs. Tautphaeus noticed. She noticed both my retreat into me and honored my wish in the most spectacular way. She never again brought up the abuse that resulted in that black eye, but she was quietly paying attention to me. She noted what I wrote about in free writing time, somehow found out my clothes size, and paid careful attention to all sorts of tiny details. These observations culminated in one spectacular way.
On the last day of the semester, right before Winter Break, Mrs. Tautphaeus asked me to wait in the hall during the class festivities. I was instantly filled with dread because when a teacher sent you to the hall, the hall monitors would pick you up and bring you to the principal’s office for disciplinary action. I sat outside the door, wondering what I could have done to warrant punishment when Mrs. Tautphaeus appeared through the door holding the largest Christmas bag I’d ever seen and wearing a mischievous grin. “I got you a little something for Christmas. Open it!” I opened a total of 30 gifts, both big and small, some necessary, like clothing, and some superfluous, like the mobile reading lamp clip. Each gift was an echo of something I had written about, or mentioned in passing, and testified to Mrs. Tautphaeus’ stellar observation skills. But they were all meaningful and spectacular. At this moment, knowing that she had been watching me, taking careful consideration of me and that she thought I was special enough to deserve such care, I was overwhelmed. Gratitude filled my heart and left a mark in my heart that deepened my lifelong love of learning in such a spectacular way that I decided at that moment that I wanted to be someone else’s Katie Tautphaeus.
In every way, I have attempted to emulate her example of joy and love in my classroom and in my life in general, hoping to leave an everlasting mark on the heart of a soul so desperately in need of love, just like mine.
Inspirational Teacher: Theresa Wright
Story by Amara Lee Brenner of Sycamore Valley Academy of Visalia, CA
It’s easy to give up on kids. Actually, it’s frighteningly easy to give up on kids. It is especially true for teachers. When you are a teacher, with twenty-eight faces staring at you, and one face is not staring at you, and one pen is not writing, and one voice is interrupting you constantly, the easiest thing to do is send that child out of the room until they are, “ready to learn.” That is exactly what happens in the classrooms across America. That is exactly why we need charter schools. Charter schools and Lille Sycamore Valley Academy do not push out kids. Instead, we hire people like Theresa Wright.
When Theresa Wright started at Sycamore Valley Academy, she was a teacher’s aide. In those years, she had some kind of magic about her. I have been a teacher for over fourteen years, and she did things that I couldn’t do. When she came into my room, she walked the same walk as a lion who walks into the prairie; casual, cool, completely in charge. When I gestured toward the kid who needed help, she invited the child to come along with her, outside. I still have no idea what she said to those children, or what she did, but they always came back in with that same lion aura she had. The rest of my day went smoothly and the kid completed their work.
That is the honest truth of the teaching world: Even the world’s greatest teacher needs a great teacher’s aide. With twenty-eight eyes facing forward, smack in the middle of a lesson about Mesopotamia, I can’t stop addressing the needs of one child. That’s life in education. There’s really no way around it. The charter schools, with the choices that we are given, with the parents who choose to send their children to our school, invest in these kinds of moments. Sycamore Valley Academy invests in people like Theresa Wright. When a teaching position came open, our school posted the job. There were other teachers who applied, with full credentials, but not one of those applicants had the magic that Theresa Wright did. The next year, she wrote “Mrs. Wright” on the board, and third graders walked into her room. One of those third-graders was my son, Ethan.
Things didn’t always go so smoothly: We hit a pandemic, her own kid hit the emergency room multiple times and she rolled with every punch. My kid would tell me that his teacher was “cool” and come bragging about something he learned in her class. Even in the middle of a pandemic, Theresa took the time to let her class share about their passions, from anime to skateboarding to black holes. When you talk in Mrs. Wright’s classroom today, post-pandemic, post-Distance Learning, you can hardly tell that it’s her classroom: It is their classroom. There is student art all over the walls, there is student interest and posters all over. Every gift that students bring her crowd her desk. She treats every child, including my son, like they are the only child in the world like she has a classroom of one. When my son wanted to give up, she found a way to reach him. When any student is sitting outside her classroom, she takes her recess break to talk it out. I really don’t know how to duplicate the magic she does.
That is what Sycamore Valley Academy does: we find people like Theresa Wright and match them to classrooms where they change the world, one kid at a time. We don’t give up on any kid.
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Along with the winning submissions, there are a number of amazing stories of inspiration that deserve honorable mention. Find those on the blog in the weeks to come. Bookmark our blog page or follow us on Instagram to get a weekly dose of educator inspiration.
Since 2017, Charter School Capital has held an annual essay contest celebrating exceptional teachers. We call it the Dewey Awards, in celebration of Mr. Richard Dewey – a teacher who provided exceptional mentorship to our founder and CEO, Stuart Ellis. Every year we get a brilliant selection of stories written by students from charter schools all over the nation. This year’s winners are featured here. But each of these stories is worth sharing.
This week we bring you a story written by Michelle Fossum of City High Charter School, about Cal Golumbic – her professor at Pennsylvania State University.
————————————————————— By the time I was eight years, I knew I wanted to be a writer. I had written my first poem, about rainbows and little birds, when I was six on my mom’s old typewriter, a hulk of a thing that only typed in capital letters. As the years went by, I filled journal after journal with my words. When I was a teenager, I would stay up all night fueled by cups of strong black tea and work on novels, plays, soap operas, songs.
Despite all of this time spent putting pen to paper, writing anything for school was another story. Essentially, my vocabulary far outpowered my work ethic. I eventually learned that I could procrastinate and still manage to craft a satisfactory essay or research paper at the last minute. My teachers were dazzled by my polished grammar and scintillating syntax. Ultimately, I graduated from high school without ever earning anything less than an A in any English class.
Michelle Fossum
As I prepared to go to college, I had confidence that my successful hard-work avoidance strategy could continue. By my sophomore year at Penn State, I had a proven regimen: slack off, pull an all-nighter, and then use my finely-honed procrastination skills to keep my A’s. This worked fine until I stepped into Cal Golumbic’s Philosophy class.
Golumbic, who insisted we use only last names, was a former lawyer who peppered his lectures with non-sequiturs that somehow managed to make sense by the end of class. His style was operatic, his manner baroque, and his words biting. Despite all this, I actually thought that a written-the-night-before essay analyzing Plato’s Cave was going to bamboozle this man, someone who had argued cases before the Supreme Court. Nope.
Golumbic returned my paper with jagged words scrawled indelibly in red across the first page: “This paper should be an A. But I know your heart wasn’t in it. I am failing you. Rewrite this and earn your A.” It was infuriating. It was irritating. It was devastating. And it was the most accurate feedback I had ever received from a teacher in all of my years of education. It resonated with me about both my writing and my life. His comments illuminated, as shadows on a wall, how my own hesitation and lack of confidence had made perfunctory performances routine. So I rewrote the paper and earned my A.
Now, anytime I feel tempted to show apathy or indifference towards my work, I think back to Golumbic’s words and proceed as best I can with focus and integrity. He was the best teacher I ever had.
Since 2017, Charter School Capital has held an annual essay contest celebrating exceptional teachers. We call it the Dewey Awards, in celebration of Mr. Richard Dewey – a teacher who provided exceptional mentorship to our founder and CEO Stuart Ellis. Every year we get a brilliant selection of stories written by students from charter schools all over the nation. This year’s winners are featured here. But each of these stories is worth sharing.
This week we bring you a story written by Ashley Hardman, about Mrs. Hannah Sutton of New Summit Charter Academy, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
I met Mrs. Sutton in 2019 as her teacher’s assistant. She was young, bubbly, and always smiling. She had the best laugh and was great with her students. After working with her a little I learned that we were both from the South and we began to share stories of growing up in a very similar way. We joked about our accents, foods that we loved, and places to visit.
Mrs. Hannah Sutton
She quickly became more than a coworker and became a close friend. I have learned more from her than I thought possible, everything from teaching techniques, navigating technology, to be a true friend. She was always quite creative with her first-grade class in helping them learn math concepts with number bonding with Big Mama’s House, to hearing her funny voices during storytime, to her fun Sparkle games to learn sight words.
I was so delighted when my own little first-grader was placed in her classroom the following year. No longer her teaching assistant, but now a parent I knew that my little one was in great hands.
Coming back to school after being out the entire spring due to COVID, no one really knew what to expect. Thankfully we have a wonderful school that recognized the importance to evaluate each student’s need.
We are now only finishing the first quarter of school and already my girl is reading quite a bit more than she was when she started the year. She loves school and enjoys math. She often has asked for more homework. There are only so many years we have with them and to know that her teacher is truly instilling a love of learning in her students is the best I could ask for.
Our homework every day is in google classroom, so if an e-learning environment is needed again, I have no doubt that her students will not only be ready, but they will be successful. I truly couldn’t ask for a better teacher and friend!
Since 2017, Charter School Capital has held an annual essay contest celebrating exceptional teachers. We call it the Dewey Awards, in celebration of Mr. Richard Dewey – a teacher who provided exceptional mentorship to our founder and CEO Stuart Ellis. Every year we get a brilliant selection of stories written by students from charter schools all over the nation. This year’s winners are featured here – but each of these stories is worth sharing.
This week we bring you a story sent by Cameron Fields, about his teacher Taylor Idoni at Genesee STEM Academy of Flint, Michigan.
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Hi, my name is Cameron Fields and my school is Genesee STEM Academy of Flint, Michigan. I would like to vote my teacher as the best homeroom teacher that I have. She is a great teacher and a great example of what you can be when you grow up. She is our teacher of math and college or career. She is our homeroom teacher.
We don’t always start out with her early in the day for online school. Well, we start out with her after our lunch break. Although we may have little time, she makes the work seem fun and easy when it’s really complicated. And sometimes if she has already explained half of the assignment while the class is still working on it, I go back in and find some more answers and have five or one more questions to answer when I’m on the assignment.
When she assigns the assignment, I typically try to finish the whole thing without help, but sometimes I may need a little help with the assignment because it can get a little hard, but sometimes it can be a little easy. And that’s why I think my teacher, Mrs. Adam, of Genesee STEM Academy, Flint, Michigan, should win the $1,000.
You know that saying “people come into our lives for a season.” Well… Here is the story of the teacher/guidance counselor that I truly believe God put in my life as my Angel here on earth; her name is Kelly Stropp Lamerson.
As an individual growing up battling severe medical issues myself knowing just how precious life is and learning to appreciate each and every day as it’s given to us and to not live life in fear, I have learned to live my life that way the best I can. However, growing up in private schools my entire life where everyone knows each other, and my world being turned upside down junior year which led me to walk into my senior year having transferred schools to a public school yeah, I was fearful. Not knowing a single soul and going into the unknown of a senior year wasn’t what I planned.
Day one of school and Kelly walked into my life. Her genuine smile, compassion, and heart for teaching and students is the reason why I continued going to school every day because I knew things would get better. Kelly took me under her wing and guided me through my senior year. Not many teachers would take the time to go the extra mile to make sure students are taken care of let alone give them the feeling like we are human beings and that we do matter and we do belong. I looked forward to school because I knew I would be greeted with a smile and I knew someone. Eventually, I grew to know more people but, Kelly was still there whenever I needed her. I am honestly horrible at math and she took the time to help me strengthen my math skills and believe me I’m pretty sure she’s the most patent person I have ever met. She continues to inspire me and impact my life over a decade later and that’s how you know this teacher/guidance counselor impacted my life and is a good soul!
Watching her strive to not just make her classroom a better place but, striving to make the world a better place inspires me to do the same thing, and wanting to make sure people feel like they belong which is what Kelly does! Her genuine heart for others is one of a kind and we truly need more people like her in this world. I was a Majorette at the college I attended, and she came and supported me and watched me perform during pre-game and halftime.
During this pandemic, Kelly wasn’t sitting still. She was thinking of ways to help keep her high schoolers safe when they return back to school for in-person learning. So she started a donors choose and told her story and started to raise funds for freestanding sanitation stations so the kids would feel safe while returning back to school. I don’t think I could find just the right amount of words to express how proud I am of Kelly.
She is always going out of her way and striving to make a difference in the world around her which makes her a light, and she makes learning inviting and belonging for all students. Kelly thank you for taking me under your wing, thank you for impacting my life and making a difference in my life. Thank you for always striving to make this world and the teacher world a better place, you are one of a kind and I hope you never forget the impact you leave!
For years, I worried about my grandson Dion’s challenges with learning. He did not respond to reading phonics lessons, he had problems deciphering compound sounds, and he struggled to read and write. By seventh grade, I was so concerned about his delays that I put him in a new school: West Hawaii Explorations Academy, a STEM Charter School in Hawaii.
A teacher there, Erik Swenson, assessed Dion’s learning style and brought him to an exciting educational platform. Instead of holding Dion captive in a classroom, where my grandson had always felt unsure of himself, Mr. Swenson took Dion outside to study live marine animals on campus. Mr. Swenson taught my grandson how to make scientific observations after allowing him to visit and feed the animals.
When Mr. Swenson worked one-on-one with my grandson, he let him read about marine animals, particularly sharks, an exciting book subject my grandson willingly read out loud.
Dion not only became a better reader, but he learned to include scientific observations in his writing. Mr. Swenson gave Dion encouraging feedback rather than focusing on his mistakes whenever my grandson wrote a paper.
Mr. Swenson allowed Dion to experience regular outdoor movement while learning, and he integrated marine science projects into Dion’s classroom assignments. My grandson’s confidence was steadily growing as he read and wrote in ways he had never done before.
Dion joined in with his classroom projects with more enthusiasm, and he began to perceive himself as a capable learner. By the end of the school year, Dion had completed several reports, including marine life anatomical reports with drawings, history reports, science projects, and he won first place in Mr. Swenson’s creative writing contest.
Mr. Swenson changed the trajectory of my grandson’s learning. While Dion may have challenges in his future, he now knows how to rise above them and excel as a unique and capable learner. This is a lifelong lesson that only a gifted teacher can impart.
About Mr. Swenson
Mr. Swenson holds a master’s degree in special education from Chaminade University. He has been teaching for thirteen years. His interests are surfing, diving, fishing, and hiking. Mr. Swenson leads a surf team from West Hawaii Explorations Academy.
Since 2017, Charter School Capital has held an annual essay contest celebrating exceptional teachers. We call it the Dewey Awards, in celebration of Mr. Richard Dewey – a teacher who provided exceptional mentorship to our founder and CEO Stuart Ellis. Every year we get a brilliant selection of stories written by students from charter schools all over the nation. This year’s winners are featured here. But each of these stories is worth sharing.
This week we bring you a story written by Lucas Harman, about his fourth-grade teacher at NYOS Charter School in Austin, Texas.
I remember really wanting to stay in the same teacher’s class as I was entering fourth grade. At our school, NYOS, you had two years with the same teacher in repeat until middle school. I had one teacher in Kindergarten and 1st Grade. Then another in 2nd and 3rd. And finally, one in 4th and 5th. And I really wanted the same teacher. A lot of my friends wanted her, and I wanted to be in their class. Some of their older siblings had been with her and had heard a lot of positive things.
However, while most of my friends ended up in that class, I went to a new teacher’s class. I didn’t really have any familiar friends, and I didn’t know her very well, besides some occasions throughout the last year or so. But instantly I realized, even at the young age of 9 and 10 in 4th and 5th grade, that this new teacher was a phenomenal teacher. Like I said, I didn’t really know anyone in that class, but over those small, quick two years, she instantly bonded us tighter than atoms (which I didn’t learn in her class, more like 7th or 8th grade. If only she did, and I might understand all that stuff a little more.)
I am close friends to many of kids from that class even now almost four years later, and I am very grateful for that. My 4th grade teacher was and I’m sure still is a fantastic teacher. People and teachers always say they try to make learning fun, but I have seen few to actually fully succeed. But she definitely did.
She was very engaging in her lessons and taught me so many things. She also had the perfect level of tolerance. Obviously not comparing her to an old grandmother, but her level of strict well was perfect, and a lot like a classic grandmother. She always expected the best of us, which brought out the best of us, and she made sure we were always kind to each other. Like I said, her lessons were always engaging, but she also made other great activities. I remember she would occasionally have us all make a meal together. We made some killer cheesy orzo, and it was a great teamwork experience. My fourth-grade teacher is a fantastic teacher.
She includes her students, makes them good people, teaches them efficiently and makes it very entertaining, and is like I said, just a plain legit teacher. I have so much respect for her, and I am absolutely positive my classmates do as well. She has definitely shaped me to become as good of a person as I can be. My fourth-grade teacher is great teacher. But an even better person.
Since 2017, Charter School Capital has held an annual essay contest celebrating exceptional teachers. We call it the Dewey Awards, in celebration of Mr. Richard Dewey – a teacher who provided exceptional mentorship to our founder and CEO, Stuart Ellis. Every year we get a brilliant selection of stories written by students from charter schools all over the nation. This year’s winners are featured here. But each of these stories is worth sharing.
This week we bring you a story written by Cynthe Burbidge, about Mr. Lacey of Faith Academy, in Manila, in the Philippines.
The wall of hot sticky moisture greeted my 9-year-old body as I stepped out of the cool air-conditioned van, backpack on my shoulders, and my unkempt long mousy hair still plastered to my neck despite the twenty-minute respite from the heat the ride to school provided. I was still getting used to this humidity, among other strange and unfamiliar encounters that daily racked my senses.
I looked around me, shy and stunned by the swarm of students flooding the hallways. The last two years of my life had been spent in a van very different than the one I was exiting. Most of my education up to this point had been with my mother as my teacher and the van as my schoolhouse. We were missionaries, we spent two years raising enough support to make this trek across the world to another country, two years visiting churches, sleeping in unfamiliar beds, and eating unfamiliar dinners with unfamiliar faces. You would think unfamiliar had started to become familiar to me.
But this was a whole different level of strangeness. Everything from taste to touch to smell was new.
And it had been three years since I had stepped foot in a schoolroom. As I stepped up those tenacious cement stairs to my classroom, my palms were sweaty but not from the heat, and my heart raced in my chest. I didn’t know what to do here.
At that moment, the warmest smile I had ever seen in my life greeted me. It was my 4th-grade teacher, Mr. Lacey. I’ll never forget his balding head and glasses and that gentle grin of his. Somehow, he knew today was new to me and his very persona emanated warmth and welcome and pleasure. He was delighted to see me!
He quickly ushered me to my desk and showed me the pencil sharpener and the class pet and the place to set my backpack. And he handed me a freshly sharpened pencil and asked me to write my name on a placard for my desk.
I am not precisely sure what went through my head that day. I don’t recall my train of thought. But that day, the day I was greeted by Mr. Lacey, I gave myself a new name. No longer would I use the childish nickname I had been known by all my life. Here I would remake myself, and no one here in this classroom would know the difference. Here I would embrace the new, become the new, and new would no longer scare me. I marked that placard brightly and clearly for all to see — here in this land of unfamiliar, Mr. Lacey’s welcome gave me the courage to bridge the unknown and to begin what would become the rest of my life.
