Guest Column by Mary Hinnenkamp

In July of this year, my hometown of Freeport will be celebrating the all- school reunion and centennial of my elementary school. Freeport is a small town in central Minnesota with one Catholic school, Sacred Heart School. My brother Bud has spent weeks, months planning the program and contacting all the students who ever attended there. My sister Irene has made hundreds of phone calls to try to locate former students and invite them to the celebration/reunion. I helped a bit with my class, but I wondered, why would they take on such a task? Why is this so important? A few weeks ago, I returned to Freeport to attend the funeral of my sister-in-law. As I left the church, I could see my school maybe 50 feet across the parking lot:  four square brick, standing strong and still buzzing with students.  And a flood of memories washed over me: Sister

Marcelinda bending over me explaining an addition problem in second grade, Sister Osewena taking me up to the library and introducing me to the Bobsey Twins series, Mrs. Finken reading Anne of Green Gables or Silver Chief as butterflies flitted around her classroom, Sister Ruth Mary directing school plays and all the teachers hosting a Christmas movie at school, complete with Santa’s visit. That building held the collection of so many of my childhood memories, the students who came before me, and after me — thousands and thousands of collective memories. And I suddenly realized that each memory was a memory of one of my teachers. The school building may host my memories, but my teachers were the catalyst of those memories. A school building may seem to be the heart of a community, but a building is just a building. But teachers, ah that is another matter. They are the heart of the heart.

I believe this is true in Albert Lea, too.  Our school buildings are the hosts of so many memories of so many community members. And those memories exist because of the innovative, creative, dedicated teachers who have taught and continue to teach in them.

Each year, the Teacher of the Year Committee asks the community of Albert Lea to nominate candidates who represent Albert Lea‘s best teachers. This year’s recommendations came from teachers, students and parents — 59 in all.

Teachers appreciate a fellow teacher who is fair, patient, humble, insightful, has a great attitude, loves to teach, puts in long hours, has high expectations, is dedicated, hard-working, inclusive, research based, detail oriented, empathetic, fair, calm, compassionate, keeps students working in the right direction and who gives 110 percent to not only her students, but to their families.

 

Amazing

Students wrote letters about a teacher who is  fun, funny, loving, nice, committed, cool, hard-working, awesome, kind, caring, jubilant, maternal, helpful, cheerful, confidence-building, and who “never gives up on me.”

 

Heart warming

And parents wrote about the teacher who is smart, dedicated, hard-working, motivating, who gives his child confidence, helped her child through a difficult time and “instilled a joy of reading” in her child.

 

Inspiring

As always, I am grateful to be a teacher, and very happy to be a part of a committee that celebrates great teachers and great teaching. The Teacher of the Year Committee has completed the difficult task of selecting a handful of finalists from these nominations.  And on Wednesday, the committee will announce the 2016 Teacher of the Year.  As always, stay tuned.

 

Mary Hinnenkamp is part of the Teacher of the Year Committee.