2018 Educator of the Month Winners
2018 Educator of the Month Winners
Rick Merrill presents the 2018 Educator of the Month award to outstanding educators in Snohomish County. The recipient receives a plaque and $500 to help defray miscellaneous expenses for the classroom.
The Law Offices of Rick H. Merrill has been a part of the Snohomish County community since 1994. It is important to Rick to support our neighbors, local businesses and schools. Rick partnered up with local radio station KXA 1520 am to sponsor a local educator each month.
Rick Merrill is recognizing our educators for their hard work and sacrifices. Who demonstrate their care and commitment to each generation of children. Winners are presented a plaque donated by Awards Service, Inc., a great big check to display, and $500 to help defray miscellaneous costs for the classroom.
2018 January Educator of the Month Winner Nick Brown of Arlington School District.
I nominate Nick Brown, an English teacher and Basketball coach at Arlington High School for 22 years. I would like to recognize Nick for being a humble person. He demonstrates to others qualities of compassion, determination, and gratitude.
Mr. Brown has made an impact in the lives of 3,000+ kids who have been in his class over the years. Nick has helped many young men in the basketball program learn the fundamentals of basketball and how to be a better person.
For the past 8 years Nick and the Arlington High School have hosted a “Coaches vs. Cancer” game to allow our community to come together to raise funds for the American Cancer Society. This has been an emotional event as it becomes evident to all attendees how cancer affects loved ones.
Over the years Nick has become a mentor and counselor to many whose lives have been touched by a cancer diagnosis. He has been able to motivate others through his community service, teaching, and coaching. I am grateful for his continued efforts to inspire students to improve everyday.
Nominated by Caryn
2018 February Educator of the Month Esther Bak of Dutch Hill Elementary School.
My daughter was fortunate to be placed into Mrs. Bak’s fourth grade class this year! In this age of globalization, Mrs. Bak recognizes the importance of looking beyond our little town and teaching about other cultures and customs. In anticipation of the Olympics next winter, she has done a great job of educating her class on the cultures and customs of South Korea and has even taught some Korean vocabulary and songs to her students! My daughter is thrilled to be able to write her name in Korean and teaches us new words at the dinner table. My daughter looks forward to school each day and is thriving in Mrs. Bak’s supportive and encouraging classroom. We’re lucky to have her at Dutch Hill Elementary! Thank you for considering her for this honor!
Nominated by Molly O.
2018 March Educator of the Month Diane Meyer of the Lakewood Middle School.
The teacher I would like to nominate is Mrs. Diane Meyer, she teaches Algebra and Geometry, along with being a volleyball coach at Lakewood Middle School in Arlington for 19 years, she is wonderful, kind and supportive.
She is always available for advice or help which encourages us to try harder to be successful. Her favorite song to play before a test is “Eye of the Tiger” being that math is important for many aspects in life, she teaches the daily lessons with a style that we are able to understand the formulas to solve the problems, and to achieve well on the tests with high scores.
When I first entered her class I was nervous if I would be able to continue reaching my math competency, but thanks to Mrs. Meyer I have been successful in maintaining my academic grade of an A in this class.
I would appreciate your consideration for Mrs. Meyer as a recipient of your teacher of the month. I know this would bring great joy to her to know her gift of teaching has inspired us to always focus on success and to” rise to the challenge”.
Nominated by Katelynn C.
2018 April Educator of the Month Malysa Johnson, Life Skills Teacher at Lake Stevens High School
Malysa started working in our Life Skills class last September. In this short amount of time she has made a huge difference in the lives of our students and their families. She has been very proactive and successful at providing these students and their families with tools and resources they were unaware of, but so desperately needed. She spends her own money on extra classroom supplies, food, personal hygiene items etc. She also pushed for additional Para educator support in the room, which has proven to have made a very positive impact.
These students have flourished since she joined our room. Her calm, caring and positive demeanor helps the students feel safe, happy and comfortable so they can learn, grow and enjoy their days at school.
Malysa is an asset to the Lake Stevens School District and we feel grateful that she joined our team and is making such a positive difference in the lives of kids who live with such profound disabilities.
Dear Mr. Merrill,
I just wanted to thank you again for the Educator award from last year. I want you to know that the money went towards art supplies, classroom decorations and a REALLY FUN Community Guest!
I attached some pictures to the back of our gift for you!
I hope you are well and you are doing great things 🙂
Sincerely, Malysa Johnson
You are Welcome!
Thank you for the photos. They shared with us the complete delight and excitement of the children as they enjoyed a visit from the Reptile Man. The photos shared a thousand words of thanks.
We are pleased to assist in education for Snohomish County Youth. We appreciate the hard work and dedication that it takes to be a teacher.
Nominated by Liz, Jen and Natalie
2018 September Educator of the Month Jeremy Carter, of Totem Falls Elementary in the Snohomish School District.
He is the Elementary PE teacher at Totem Falls, Safety Patrol Leader and until this year a Student Council Adviser as well. He recently completed his Masters Degree last summer and is very proud of this accomplishment while working full time.
He goes out of his way to connect with his students so they ‘know him’ and prides himself on the fact that former students return to their elementary school to simply stop by and say “HI” to Mr. Carter.
His break or planning period generally falls during lunch time which is held in the gym aka his classroom, it is not rare that you will instead find him sitting with the special education students. He makes sure that others see him sitting there to set the example of building relationships with ALL students and encourages other kids to join him.
He encourages kids to build each other up and to always look out for each other. When he sees a kid sitting by themselves, he makes sure to sit with them thus encouraging the other kids to maybe join and get to know the ‘lone’ student.
He is going into his 7th year at Totem Falls Elementary. He has been the only male teacher staff during that time,. The relevance of that is nothing when it comes to teaching BUT when it comes to students makes him more or less the “popular” teacher.
2018 October Educator of the Month Matthew Johnson, of Forest View Elementary in the Everett School District.
I think my teacher, Mr. Johnson, should be Teacher of the Month because he really “gets” us 5th graders.
He tells us that people may think we can’t do things because we’re only 10, but he thinks we can do great things! Also, he allows us to work with our community.
At the moment we are building a school garden. We are using our math skills and growth mindsets to determine how to lay out the garden, how much soil and how many seeds we need, and what grows during this season.
He has even helped our class to write a grant to the Mill Creek Garden Society to help fund our gardening project!
Mr. Johnson allows us to do “Passion Projects” where we come up with an idea that we are passionate about that will help our community or spark an interest in something we love.
Not only is Mr. Johnson a really great teacher, but even better – he is really funny and puts a smile on our faces everyday. Mr. Johnson makes learning exciting and inspiring! I would love to see my 5th grade teacher, Mr. Johnson, be honored as your Educator of the Month!
Nominated by Liana.
2018 November Educator of the Month William Stuflick, of the Everett Community College.
William and I met in June, 2018 while I was trying to network and find meaningful post-secondary opportunities for my high school students at Lake Stevens High School. I am a life skills teacher at Lake Stevens and had the opportunity to teach a work experience class to seniors during the 2018-2019 school year.
Although I was very excited, I had no budget or any real curriculum to hit the ground running. I wanted to make a difference, but didn’t know how. So as soon as summer started, I started looking to my community for help. I spent a lot of my summer meeting with people in Snohomish County to try and build partnerships that I could extend into my classroom.
One of these meetings was with William Stuflick at Everett Community College. William is a Dean there and spent time meeting with me so I could learn about, not only opportunities with Everett Community College, but opportunities outside of college as well. Many of my students are credit deficient and do not have college as an immediate goal in their future.
William took the time to listen to every unique story I told him about my students and gave me a chance to brainstorm ideas for gaps I was hoping to fill. Even though I had no specific requests, it was nice to have a partner in the community help me help these students. William and I met multiple times during the Summer and came up with a plan to support the kids once the school year officially started.
I had a tentative plan to have William come visit our classroom once a month, and was worried even that would be too much since he would be leaving EVCC to come see us at LSHS. Due to limited transportation funding, William was more than happy to come to us which made us even more excited since students would not miss extra class travelling. Not only did William want to come out once a month to our classroom, but he requested to come out every two weeks.
Every visit, he brings an engaging, hands-on lesson that captivates the students and makes them WANT to learn. They are drawn to his personality, his history, and the stories he has to tell so that they can learn from his past mistakes.
William has spent countless dollars bringing in supplies to make learning hands-on for my students. He has made fun lessons like replicating metal sheet work cutting and fluffy slime to mimic pouring a cast in the nursing field. He has even bought them all Wendy’s as well!
The kids have learned core academic concepts, but I am blown away with the social skills that they are learning. These key soft skills like communication, self-advocacy, flexibility and much more are authentic learning opportunities that William integrates into all of his lessons. I am simply grateful to be even in the same classroom with him when he teaches.
William is kind, he is genuine, and he wants to make a difference in people’s lives. He has devoted a lot of time outside of his own work and personal life to come and support students whom society will let fall through the cracks if someone doesn’t help them. I know this award would mean a lot to him, and hopefully be a small gesture from me to show him how much he means to us at Lake Stevens.
Note from William…
I wanted to send you another thank you for the award. I sincerely appreciate Mr. Merrill’s generosity in recognizing our efforts with the Lake Stevens kids. Each student is now on pace to graduate this year; with one student graduating in the winter semester.
The funds awarded have been donated to the EvCC Center for Disability Services to help provide direct support to students with disabilities. These funds will go a long way to assisting students with achieving their academic goals! Once again thank you all so much for the award and the funding to assist our students of promise.
Nominated by Lyla H.
2018 December Educator of the Month Heather Chadwick of the Snohomish County Fire District 7
Heather is a dedicated educator who transitioned from public schools to our fire district. She is committed to quality fire safety, injury and falls prevention for all ages from preschool to the elderly.
She is also the public information officer for our district. Her endless energy and tireless work habits ensure the citizens of District 7 and all of the school age students are informed to keep themselves safe. She is always developing new and creative ways to present the best messages.
Our District is lucky to have her working with our citizens and she should be recognized for all she does.
A Note from Heather…
I wanted to say thank you again for the special honor of being the Educator of the Month. I also wanted to let you know that with the generous donation I am able to purchase additional CPR mannequins for our CPR and First Aid program. Every year we certify around 350 people in CPR! Fire District 7 is committed to educating our communities through our fire and life safety programs so they can partner with us in creating a safer community. Through our CPR and First Aid classes people learn life saving techniques that helps us create a stronger Chain of Survival.
Nominated by Gary Meeks
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