Emily Scarlett anchoring/reporting
Photographer: Ken Ritz
SPARTA, Mich. — Now in his 26th year of teaching, our newest Teacher of the Week wears a lot of hats for Ridgeview Elementary School in Sparta. Those hats are just part of the reason he’s leaving a lasting impression.
The hallway was packed with kids not so patiently waiting to surprise the man they all have as a teacher.
His name is Andy Wagner and after the surprise he told 13 ON YOUR SIDE it was a “total surprise. I was in the office talking to my principal and when I came out everybody – the whole school was sitting in the middle of the hallway. I thought ‘uh oh, what’s going on, what’d I miss?’”
Kelley VanVliet is the Ridgeview Elementary School principal. She said, “Andy is so deserving of this honor. We’ve never had a teacher be selected for Teacher of the Week, and so, we were just excited and over the moon that he would be selected for this. He’s the perfect person for it.”
“Total honor. I’ve been here a long time. I’ve been here 26 years and to be nominated and – I’m doing something right,” said Wagner.
Principal VanVliet said, “It was exciting getting all the kids in the entry way for him to be surprised and he really didn’t know what it was for. He was like, ‘me?’ And so that was exciting.”
The students couldn’t wait to greet him for this celebration. The same way he greets them every morning.
“He helps our kids start the day on the right foot. He has a smile. He wears a different hat every day and so the kids who are getting dropped off by their families love to see which hat Mr. Wagner is going to wear,” said VanVliet.
Laughing, he said, “That hat thing started the Fall of 2020. All the kids coming back from being home since March and I wanted to put a smile on their face,” before adding, “I had a few hats. I had a Dr. Seuss hat and a couple other silly hats and so I started wearing them in the mornings and then it kind of blew up from there.”
So now “every morning, I have a different hat on and it gets kids smiling and you know some kids have a hard time getting out of the car – separation from parents – and allows them to be like ‘oh okay, I know I’m in a safe place and it’s going to be a fun place,’” he said.
He now has over 60 hats and also wears lots of hats in his role with the school.
“Sparta took a chance on me back in 1999 and I’ve been here ever since,” he said. “I started in fifth grade. I taught fifth grade, fourth grade, third grade, kindergarten, DK. I have a school counseling degree and PE.”
Settling on being a gym teacher for his reach.
“I know I had a big impact with my students in my classroom. This allows me to have a bigger impact on the whole building. We’ve got around 500 kids here and I get to see every single one of them every week,” he said.
He’s now doing exactly what he says he’s always wanted to do.
“Every day we come in here, our number one goal as a teacher is to make sure the kids are safe, make sure they’re fed, make sure they feel comfortable and loved and then the learning can happen.”
VanVliet said, “We give them our best and when parents and the community reach out to our teachers and staff and say thank you it just means a lot.”
“It is a lot more that goes into teaching than just math, reading, writing, that kind of thing and so it’s important to say ‘thank you’ to your teachers that are putting in not just the effort but double the effort, triple the effort to help those kids succeed as a human being more than just a student,” said Wagner.
If you have someone you’d like to nominate as our next Teacher of the Week, just text the word “teacher” to 616-559-1310.
Информация по комментариям в разработке