Time to honor teachers, student-athletes should lead the way
When Daejon Nixon walked into the room at Maloney High last fall to surprise nurse Cindy Simone with his late brother Jaylon’s jersey, well, it couldn’t have been a greater moment.
This week is National Teacher Appreciation Week.
This also seems like the perfect time to push for appreciation of our teachers by high school athletes for more than one week of the school year.
The jersey presentation, jersey swap — whatever you want to call it — by students to a teacher who has made the biggest impact on them is one of the coolest things going.
The Maloney Meriden football team, which went on to capture the Class L state championship, started it last fall. The Westhill Stamford baseball team, 2021 Class LL state finalist, has done a version in recent years.
From Abbott Tech to Xavier, A to X, every high school around the state should do it. From Danbury to Academy of the Holy Family, biggest to the smallest, it should be a tradition for every school.
Wouldn’t be a bad idea for GameTimeCT to get involved in some way, too.
“During the COVID times we were missing the face-to-face with the teachers,” Maloney coach Keven Frederick said. “We just thought that we wanted to make more of a connection with the teachers again and show them who we are and what kind of kids we’re trying to raise.
“I thought it was a good idea that the kids get more personable. Learn some more people skills, social skills, address teachers, talk to them. It was received very well by the teachers. Teachers love it. They were very humbled by it. It brought them a little closer to the kids. I think the other kids in the classroom seeing it also kind of said, ‘Wow the football team showing great respect to the teachers. That’s kind of the cool thing to do.’ ”
Here are some facts. Seven percent of high school athletes — one in 13 — play a varsity sport in college. Two percent — one