Teachers, education integral part of community
If you ask someone, “Who influenced you as a child?” The answer is often a teacher. Teachers are an integral part of our communities and societies. Through their daily efforts with our children, they have a hand in creating future scientists, engineers, mathematicians, poets and, yes, more teachers. Thank goodness for that.
I am grateful to work for Arizona Public Service, a company that supports many causes throughout Arizona, and teachers are right at the top of that list. When students succeed in school, they have the potential to become excellent employees and leaders, and APS is happy to play a role in that success. In 2016, APS gave over $16,000 in grants and mini-grants toward educational programs in Yuma County. Here are a few examples: • City of Yuma Back to School Rodeo, which helps low-income students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grades get the supplies they need to get ready for the school year
• Yuma County Education Service Agency for the annual county Science Expo
• Education Foundation of Yuma County for its annual Teacher of the Year event • Salvation Army/Boys and Girls Club of Yuma after-school performing and visual arts camp program for kids The APS Foundation partners with the Phoenix Suns to provide dozens of STEM mini grants for teachers throughout the state to use on individual classroom projects. Here is a snapshot of some of the projects in Yuma County:
• Rancho Viejo Elementary for its Grand Canyon Rocks program
• Ron Watson Middle School’s Applying Science Through Gardening project
• Desert Sonora Elementary for a project called “Our Earth and Our Volcanoes”
• Somerton Middle School for its Game Controller Tech Challenge
• Villa Del Encanto Learning Center in Somerton for its Renewable Energy Investigators project At APS, there’s more to our commitment than financial support. Over 6,000 men and women work for APS — employees like me. We have children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren who attend schools in communities throughout Arizona. We serve on school boards, help in the classrooms and make cookies for bake sales. We get in the trenches and partner with teachers because they influence the kids in our lives on a daily basis, and we know how important that is.
I can speak to this personally as I am a product of Yuma public schools. I went from K-12 in Yuma, and then attended Arizona Western College. After completing my undergraduate degree in Nevada, I taught for two years in Japan and six years at AWC in both Yuma and San Luis.
As an executive board member for the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce, I also serve on the education committee. Through this group, we’ve come up with the S. June Pallack Excellence in Education award which recognizes people who work behind the scenes to help teachers succeed in the classroom. Those who work as volunteers, school services and support staff, and administrators are a vital part of the education system. Nominations are already in, and the awards will be given at the Good Morning, Yuma! breakfast on Thursday.
This year, Teacher Appreciation Week is May 8-12. Join me, APS and the millions of other Arizonans who love teachers and the work they do. I encourage us all to find a way to honor a teacher (or two, or three, or 12) this week and let them know how thankful we are.
I am passionate about education in our community because of the many teachers who inspired me. If your own life story involves a teacher, reach out to let them know how you were impacted by the job they did.