by Sven Alskog
An idea brought forth by Stanwood High School substitute teacher Tina Latvala has been a great success.
Each week, the previous winner of the “Superstar teacher award” will hand over an enormous star to a fellow staff member for doing something nice.
This star was built by high school students Joel Schroyer, Jake Minnie, and Jake Kimball. TSA advisor Ross Short also contributed to the building of the star.
When asked what her goal was with this star Latvala stated, “The goal is to notice all the simple yet “kind” acts that are being done by fellow staff members.”
So far this star has reached six very deserving staff members.
Latvala hopes that the strong early support for the idea can expand into something great, “We are also working to shift the thinking of our school from a day to day ordinary, to day to day extraordinary!”
It’s people like Latvala that keep the spirits always running high for students and staff at the high school.
Short was the first winner of the star award and he handed it off to Hi-Q, knowledge bowl, and science team advisor Kathy Redfern. The always smiling Short explained how he tries to build relationships with his students, “I build relationships with students by talking to them and joking with them, greeting them at the door, shake their hand at the end of class, don’t take things too serious.”
Now even more much deserved recognition is being handed out because of a great idea by one person. All it takes is one person to make a positive change at Stanwood High School. Just look what Tina Latvala has done.
