Merci Mille Fois, Madame Heil!!

Madame Heil is such an inspiring and wonderful French teacher! She works really hard for her students to help them be successful, and her hard work is often gone unnoticed… Madame is one of those teachers that has mastered the ‘art of teaching’, which enables her students to understand, and really learn the language. She finds a way to make the most of what she teaches funny, so you end up laughing so much, that you hardly even realize that you’re learning. Then, when you get to the test, you are able to feel comfortable and confident because you remember all the funny stuff that corresponds to verbs, structure, or vocabulary terms we have learned. Madame is always smiling, and has a bubbly personality which makes for a calm, ‘low-pressure’ learning environment. She motivates us and inspires us to try harder, and achieve more, with her positive attitude. She can turn a painful, or bad situation into something more positive and optimistic in the blink of an eye. She is very approachable, and will listen to anything you need to talk about, and offer help or advice if you need it. 

Thank you so much, Madame Heil, for making our French experiences awesome! We both plan to continue with the French program, and she has made a huge impact on that decision for us. We are so grateful for all she has done. She is very inspiring, and has greatly touched our lives.There is only so much you can write on paper, and this can only account for a ‘small amount of awesome’ she is as a teacher, and as a person. 

Merci mille fois Madame, 

-Gigi R. and Sarah S. 

Class of 2008

A Tribute to Dave Nicolette (Haverhill Elementary)

My son began attending Haverhill Elementary in 2002.  I recall attending the parent’s orientation meeting that spring, and distinctly remember Dave Nicolette greeting me at the door with energy and enthusiasm.  I was impressed by Mr. Nicolette’s genuine excitement to be at the meeting for new Haverhill parents. When my daughter entered kindergarten at Haverhill in 2007, I was no longer the new comer, but Mr. Nicolette’s greeting to us on her first day was full of the same vigor as that of my son’s first day, five years earlier.  As I now reflect upon our nine years at Haverhill with Mr. Nicolette as principal, it is continually marked with the same warmth and enthusiasm I experienced on my very first encounter with him.

Over the years, I had the privilege of working with Mr. Nicolette on various projects, including those involved with the PTO, and his unconditioned willingness to lend a hand or assist in someway, frequently dropping what he was doing at the time of the request in order to help, continually reaffirmed my assessment of his commitment to the school.  His keen ability to listen to my concerns and effectively address them, often personally, was truly heartening to me. 

 As Dave Nicolette heads towards his retirement, I would like to extend a heart felt thanks for all his time, effort and attention that helped make my family’s experience at Haverhill Elementary, as with many, many others, I’m sure, a valuable and memorable one.

-Robert McNutt

A Tribute to Georgia Boyle

My daughter is the last of my four children, so I have encountered a wide range of teachers.  I can say, without exaggeration, that Mrs. Boyle was the most dedicated and most suited for her profession out of the whole group! 

I was completely astounded by how much work she put into the PREP program.  This is not an easy program to run and it involves quite a bit of involvement outside the normal classroom hours.  She came to visit our home, both before school started and at the end of the year.  These visits meant a lot to my daughter, who was put at ease by the first visit.  At the end of the year, she brought gifts–a bag full of summer activities to help my daughter prepare for Kindergarten.  The program also requires several evening programs at the school that are designed to help the parents and children prepare for learning.  All of these were excellently organized and engaging for the whole family—quite a feat!  At the end of the year, she also provided a laminated book of photographs of my daughter “working” at school with her friends.  In addition to that, she frequently emailed parents photographs of the children engaged in projects throughout the year; this was a great help to parents who might be anxious about what goes on at school all day.  It was reassuring to see my daughter in the photographs, busy having fun and making friends.  I was also impressed by how much work she put into projects for the class.  At Christmastime, she sponsored an elves workshop, where I could come with just my daughter to spend time at over 10 craft stations, making little projects.  I can’t even imagine how much time it took to obtain and set up all those supplies, which included homemade play dough and freshly baked cookies. Toward the end of the year, the children made a giant spaceship, painted moon rocks, and decorated special keepsake space boxes (which were old cigar boxes which Georgia’s husband spray-painted silver; that’s quite of bit of spray painting!).

All of these examples show Mrs. Boyle’s amazing dedication, but it is less easy to capture in words her rapport with 4-year-olds.  The PREP program encompasses a wide range of children, but she manages to make ALL of them comfortable in her classroom.  She is particularly adept at understanding and loving children with special needs.  Children in her classroom behave incredibly well for preschoolers.  I believe that this is because her class is so engaging and because they can feel that she cares for them.  She understands their language, what makes them laugh, and what interests them.  Her energy and laugh are infectious.  Best of all, she models for tired parents how to enjoy their children.  Over and over, she would send us messages about how much she enjoyed our kids, stating that she “smiled so much her cheeks hurt.”  She reminded us about the simple pleasures of childhood and about how precious 4-year-olds are.  She truly radiates kindness, empathy, and joyful energy.

We are grateful that Mrs. Boyle is on your staff and for the influence she has had on our daughter and on our whole family.

With gratitude,

Alisha Siebers

A tribute to Sherry Quinn (Haverhill Elementary)

There is a wonderful teacher at Haverhill Elem., Sherry Quinn. She teaches 3rd grade and I have been blessed enough to have had all three of my children in her room. Mrs. Quinn has a reputation that goes well beyond just the kids that are currently in 3rd grade. I have mentioned her name to former students who are in college and remember her as a favorite teacher. She is the kindest person and really loves what she does. My children have grown so much just by being able to be her student. She has taught them the fundamental lessons they need in their grade but she has taught them so much more, kindness with themselves and others, excitement to learn and most of all she has instilled in them the feeling that teachers really do care about the students as individuals. She regularly receives visits from past students (mine included) and in my experience this only happens if a teacher has left an imprint on a child so much that they can’t wait to come back and share their current accomplishments with that teacher that has touched their lives. Sherry Quinn is that teacher. The one we all have that we remember for the rest of our lives and I feel lucky that we have her right here in Portage!

-Michelle Hawkey

Tribute to Scott Crocker and Amy Meyer

From Larry and Joyce McClish,

Among the many teachers and staff our son and daughter had during their years at Portage Northern, we would like to give special recognition to two….Scott Crocker and Amy Meyer.
Scott and Amy were very influential in their academic development and that continues to this day in their college careers.

We were very fortunate to know many great teachers at Northern such as Scott and Amy.

Welcome

Welcome to Portage Schools Teacher Tributes, a blog dedicated to the District’s educators who have inspired students throughout the years. The blog serves as a way for alumni to honor teachers, and share stories about how they positively impacted their lives. To share a tribute about a Portage teacher, please send your comments to district information coordinator and Teacher Tributes editor Greg Hill at ghill@portageps.org. Please include your name and graduation year for us to include with your tribute.