October 23 – RISE Nominations
“We LOVE Mrs. Stone. She is a teacher who cares, loves, works so hard and goes above and beyond. She embraces who my kids are and they feel safe in her classroom to be themselves because she is 100% true to who she is. She is animated and makes learning fun. I love that she teaches kindness and helps these kids be good people along with learning all the things. We love you, Mrs. Stone! “
Nominated by: Katherine Allen and Allen family, parents
“Annie is always so positive. She is always so kind and helpful to the students and the staff members at school. She is a hard worker and very thoughtful. She brightens the room with her amazing smile and great attitude. She is a joy to be around!“
Nominated by: Celeste Dailey, district employee
“Sandra gives her heart and soul to her students. She sees their potential and is determined to help them achieve greatness. Her students are taught skills that will help them for the rest of their lives. She does her best work in every aspect of the job. Sandra is loving and understanding of her paraeducators and is a support to everyone she meets. I have never met a more gifted and brilliant teacher. Where others might respond to a situation in frustration, Sandra responds with empathy and embraces a teaching opportunity.“
Nominated by: Meghann Smith, district employee
“Linda took on the project of our Teen Center. She has spent time dreaming of what would be best for students, working with construction to ensure the structure could serve students, designing, purchasing, decorating, and most importantly serving students. She makes hard and sometimes uncomfortable situations feel manageable and survivable. She wants to ensure that the whole student is cared for. If you have the chance to visit our teen center you will see she has done remarkable work which is inspiring and encouraging for both staff and students.”
Nominated by: Hannah Figueiredo, district employee
“Erica has a way to make every student feel welcome and loved. Her classroom is fun and she makes each child feel special. She has been through a lot with her own health but she shows up for her students and has a whole school supporting her. My kids love visiting her even though she isn’t their current teacher she makes them feel included and cared for!“
Nominated by: Amy Wright, parent
“Ms. Robbins is an amazing and inspiring teacher. My student had a variety of struggles and Ms. Robbins spent extra time with my student to help her progress. She is dedicated to making sure the students succeed.
She is always so friendly to everyone. My student loved her class and still goes back to say hi because Ms. Robbins is so kind to all the students, even those that haven’t had her as a teacher. As a parent, I always knew my student was in great and caring hands while my student was in her class. Ms. Robbins truly finds each students strengths and adores them.“
Nominated by: Amy Wright, parent
“Ms Robbins goes above and beyond. She is kind, loving and motivating to students. Each child who walks through her door knows her classroom is a safe space. Her love of the National Parks radiates off of her and she transfers that love to her students, encouraging them to be adventurous explorers. The kids just adore her and love coming to school. She takes extra time to get to know each child and their interests and watched extra curricular sports for many students in the class. All who know her, love her!”
Nominated by: Sam Frei, parent
“Mr. Teuscher is kind, cool, and makes school fun.“
Nominated by: Talon Player, student
“Mr. Teuscher should win it because he makes everyone welcome and he is just happy. I think that he deserves the award.“
Nominated by: Jaiden Shiffler, student
“Jory Schmidt is one of the most positive and problem solving oriented leaders in Alpine District. He strives hard to collaborate and pull experts to help build his leadership team, grade level teams, and individual teachers. I personally love any opportunity to work through hard situation with Jory because he is one who is unafraid to tackle things head on. I also want him to personally know how his positivity and genuine care has helped lift me through other hard situations I personally have to deal with in my role. Jory is an unsung hero and it is an honor to recognize him.“
Nominated by: Jack Kingsford, district employee
“Conner is a ray of sunshine! He always has a smile on his face and is the first to ask how your day is going. Connor has an unwavering dedication to our school–rain, snow, or shine, he rides his bike to get here without complaining. Connor takes pride in taking of our school, we appreciate him so much!“
Nominated by: Leslie McCleery, district employee
“At a moment’s notice, they moved our school Lunch Manager for the first few weeks of school. David stepped in to help out in so many ways. He took on additional responsibilities of opening the kitchen up and prepping food in the morning, adjusting for missing team members on the serve line, and in carrying out the day-to-day needs for ensuring our students had access to great meals. He did all of this because he cares about our school and the people in it. We want him to know his efforts made a difference are appreciated. We are lucky to have someone of Dave’s caliber at Highland.“
Nominated by: Jennye Harding, district employee
“Mr. Adams is an exceptional math lab teacher. He’s positive and helped my kids not only enjoy math but understand it and have fun while doing it. He’s enthusiastic and helped my kids with their individual needs and very supportive. My kids enjoyed his class and I have loved hearing how funny he is and how he’s their favorite teacher. Teachers impact kids lives and he will always be their favorite teacher. He makes learning fun. Thank you, Mr. Adams!“
Nominated by: Iliana Echeverria, Makayla Echeverria, Bailey Echeverria; parent, student, and former student
“Mr. Gagnier deserves the award because he is an amazing teacher. He is patient and kind with all of his students, and truly values our education, making sure we understand the material and concepts in class. But none of this means he’s lenient, in fact he’s one of my strictest teachers. And while many see this as a bad thing, I think it teaches us respect and better time management, since he’s not mean about dead days. Over all he’s truly amazing and believe he is the best candidate for this award.”
Nominated by: Katelyn Allen, student
“Mr. Gagnier made me love English and feel comfortable in school. He doesn’t teach textbook English, but helps us connect it to our lives. I truly appreciate him and enjoyed his class. Because of him I am now more confident in my academic abilities. I also love how Mr. Gagnier has class assignments to encourage us to be more involved with our school community. (ps this is on his bucket list, so let’s get him it, he deserves it)”
Nominated by: Josefa Gervic, student
“Miss Wilcox deserves this award because she is the best science teacher she really loves her students and loves teaching Astronomy/AP Physics 1“
Nominated by: Nathan Kunze, student
“Mrs. Jackson is so supportive. She goes out of her way to communicate and ensure parents feel involved. My son was injured at school and no one seemed to know what had happened. When she found out that no one had told me, she wrote me a detailed explanation. She is fun, welcoming and encourages students to reach their potential. We’re excited for this year with her!“
Nominated by: Bethany Mulder, parent
“Mr. Alm is the best teacher. He is fun and helped me learn so much. He was a great teacher because he helped explain the subjects more clearly so I could understand. The other reason why I think Mr. Alm is the best is that he made school fun by doing learning games and other activities. I appreciated him putting in the extra effort to make school fun.“
Nominated by: Jordyn Ma, student
“Mr. Marshall always looks out for his students’ safety and well-being. He also has great stories that come back to the lesson which help my class remember. All in all he looks out for his students and he teaches is great ways.“
Nominated by: Trevor Cowley, student
“Dian is an incredibly skilled and knowledgable teacher. She excels at teaching a wide variety of skills: academic, communication, functional, motor, and behavioral skills. Dian never takes the easy road, she is always ready to take on any challenge to help her students learn, grow, and succeed. Dian puts her whole heart into teaching and our school is better because of it.“
Nominated by: Steven Smith, district employee
“I am nominating Angie Johnson for the Rise Award for how caring she is! She goes above and beyond! My child has been struggling in math and she has taken the time to show us as parents exactly where she is struggling and the areas that we can help my child have success. She truly cares about each one of her students on a personal level. She is the teacher that leaves a lasting impact on kids that they will remember for the rest of their life. She truly is a fantastic educator! Thanks for all you do for kids Angie!“
Nominated by: Jake McDonald, parent
“Jessi is a BCBA, behavior analyst, that was put full time into Aspen Elementary to help turn around the EBD unit. The EBD unit had severe behaviors and many people were put in to try to help the students, it was chaos and unclear the direction to go. Jessi spent the time to create an intervention that has changed that school! It is now calm, the team knows what their roles are, and the students are engaging in academic learning. She is incredibly trusted at Aspen, and she created the intervention that changed everything. She is an incredible BCBA!“
Nominated by: Jen Baeza, district employee
“I have the privilege of working with a lot of principals and Mike is in the top 1% of leaders. He is kind, patient, collaborative, visionary, and seeks to problem solve. I have incredibly high regard for him as a leader and I believe he needs to be recognized because he is also very humble and does not seek praise and recognition.
One year he had a student, that I also had as a principal, who had a level of trickiness that would have made a lesser leader quit but everyday he would come to work with a positive attitude and work through the hard. Thank you for being amazing.“
Nominated by: Jack Kingsford, district employee
“Mr. O’Very is the backbone of LJHS in SO many ways and is highly deserving of the RISE award as he is one of the best administrators I’ve had the privilege of working with. As an administrator, he is continually dealing with issues that perhaps could be delegated elsewhere but instead he accomplishes them with a smile. Dave takes on whatever “extra duties as needed” with grace and professionalism. We have had numerous faculty changes and issues the beginning of this year that have been handled very well by David and the admin team. Dave is continually seen around the building and makes himself known and available to help both teachers and students be successful and feel welcomed. He is hard working beyond what is expected and ensures that the school is running smoothly each day. His leadership and mentoring has a trickle down affect that has squished into all the cracks here at LJHS. The culture here has much to do with the great leadership that includes Dave’s influence. Every building needs a DAVE O’VERY, thank you!“
Nominated by: Danley Phillips, district employee
“Mr. Barker is always going above for any student in the school. During COVID my son was struggling with math. Mr. Barker was not his math teacher but stepped up and helped us through it. I also see Mr. Barker often commenting on community pages to parents any time there is a frustration or concern about their students education, he offers his assistance regardless of if the student is his or not. Neither one of my sons would have made it through high school without him!“
Nominated by: Jacque Beers, parent
“Aiden is a tremendous teacher and example of caring for others through belonging. When a student at the school suffered a terrible loss, he had his homeroom students make personalized cards for her. They even decorated a large envelop to hold all of the cards. When she returned to school they presented her with the large envelop full of caring messages. She was brought to tears. She thought it was the kindest thing that was ever done for her. Aiden took tragedy and brought some good out of it by teaching students to care for each other. Powerful and touching moment for all involved!“
Nominated by: Nate Crandall, district employee
“Our son loves working on his speech skills with Ms. Sackett each week! Her positive energy makes everyone around her a little happier, and she has a gift for making practicing sounds fun! As a parent I also enjoy and appreciate working with Ms. Sackett too: she always responds to my emails quickly and helps me navigate special ed services. We still owe her big time for helping our son get an extra year of preschool–thanks to Covid and Ms Sackett keeping an eye out for opportunities for her students. Thank you, Ms. Sackett, for making a huge difference in our lives!“
Nominated by: Katie Palfreyman, parent
“Mr. Hansen is a remarkable science teacher who goes above & beyond. Two of our children have had him & he is doing everything he can to help them thrive. He is kind, compassionate & truly selfless. We are grateful for great teachers like Mr Hansen!“
Nominated by: Danny & Kelly Horne, parents
“Yolanda has gone above and beyond to accommodate my son’s special needs. We are still in the process of getting his official accommodations in place, but she didn’t wait and made sure school started amazing for him. She let him come the first day early to acclimate, introduced a fidget seat, and runs her classroom with an amazing routine and order that helps him know what to expect each day and feel confident. She is kind and loving and makes kindergarten a happy place to be. I was positive school was going to be a struggle for my son but it wasn’t because of her. I couldn’t be more grateful.“
Nominated by: Ashley Driggs, parents
“Mrs. Chen is a first year Chinese teacher in our school. She spends a lot of after school time at school preparing lessons. She is always improving her teaching by asking coworkers questions and getting feedback from students. She is dedicated to teaching and cares so much about her students. She tries to know more about each student and make the connection with every one of them.“
Nominated by: Qingwen Su, district employee
“Andréia is a wonderful teacher and a hard worker. Her students excel in science and the Portuguese language due to her dedication. Andréia is continually supporting her coworkers and PLC team.“
Nominated by: Mackensie Neptune, district employee
“Ms. Heather goes above and beyond as my son’s teacher. She makes him feel safe and welcome. She has worked with him and been so patient in helping him get used to school after the summer. She sends updates and is very communicative!“
Nominated by: Alisa Bingham, parent
“Ms. Sundberg is amazing. My daughter has been in student council (Ms. Sundberg is the advisor) and Ms. Sundberg consistently goes above and beyond. She helps students see their potential, helps them dream big, lets them problem solve, and instills confidence and leadership in young people. She has truly impacted the lives of students in such a positive way.“
Nominated by: Hilary Hungerford, parent
“In the morning Aimee works as the aide in charge of the crosswalk and traffic in the front of the school. I swear she knows every kids’ name! She welcomes every child with a smile and helps them see that she is happy to see them, that school is a positive and fun place, and that they are a valued student at the school. How does she know EVERY name?! It’s impressive. The mornings she is not there are so sad! She truly makes sure every student starts the day with positive affirmations and a smile.“
Nominated by: Hilary Hungerford, parent
“Amy is a phenomenal teacher and colleague. She has taken on the task of supporting three new teachers while caring and educating her students. She has done so with a positive attitude each day. ASD is fortunate to have her!“
Nominated by: Jenn Dajany, district employee
“Mrs. Jensen is incredibly kind and compassionate about her work. She truly wants to see her students succeed and has the patience of a saint. She makes learning fun and the kids excited to learn. She goes above and beyond for her students and you can tell how much she loves what she does.”
Nominated by: Elizabeth Girard, parent
