Golden Apple?

Mark came home from school in mid-March with this:

A basket of apples and gold pencils? I was confused until he told me that he had received his school's Golden Apple Award. Then it all made perfect sense... right? :) This basket of golden delicious apples was his PTA's way of saying congratulations on getting the award, which he received earlier this month at a special dinner.

Every spring at each school in Utah, students and parents nominate teachers for the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Education. The nominations are received by the PTA, who then select the Golden Apple recipient from their school. Each recipient is also then in the running for the award at a state level (and a teacher from Mark's district received the award).

Mark thanked his class for nominating him, and many of his students admitted that they had nominated him several times! As they were reading the nominations at the awards dinner, many of the teachers had very nice poetic tributes to their teaching, very clearly written by parents. While those were very nice, we loved hearing what Mark's students said about him! These were some of Mark's nomination entries:

Mr. Nance is the best teacher ever!

Mr. Nance is fun.

Mr. Nance has the most beautiful family!  

(I love these kids!)

Mr. Nance sings really good.

Mr. Nance is a good dancer.

Mr. Nance makes us set high goals and then pushes us to reach them because he knows we can do it.

Me, Mark, and Alex Judd, the awesome principal at Mark's school (and an old friend) at the awards dinner. (See more proof that Mr. Judd is awesome here. Scroll down to the April 19 story and the photo of him covered in pie. :) )

We were 20 minutes late to the dinner (thank, Alex, for saving us seats!) and probably didn't use proper table manners, but they still let Mark receive his official Golden Apple award:

Mark and the school board

We were all surprised when one of the recipients was shaking hands with the school board and the apple from her award hit the ground with a big *clang*. It was then that someone pointed out that the apple is meant to come off the plaque because it's actually a bell. :)

I am so proud of Mark for working so hard and receiving this award. What a way to start out a career, eh? He loves his students and is always telling me how great they are (the best class in the school!), so it's great to know that they and their parents feel the same way about Mark.

We are also so grateful to everyone who contributed to getting us here and to making it a wonderful experience for us all. Alex has been the best principal and he spent literally *hours* working with USU to get this internship for Mark approved. Mark has had great mentors and made friends and we feel so blessed. We're not sure yet where we'll be this fall when school starts again, but wherever we are, it will be because that's where we need to be. :)