FREMONT, Mich. — Another first-time recognition for our latest Teacher of the Week. He’s not in your everyday classroom. In fact, he designed his classroom himself.
After what started out as normal day in woodshop, Rick Tank said, “I was quite surprised when Mr. Sherman came to me in the morning and said he wanted a class picture during second hour. That kind of had me wondering what might be going on.”
This big surprise for him was hard to keep secret.
“As I was walking out of the cafeteria during the second hour, I could see through the curtains the entire school standing in the cafeteria. So, that’s kind of when it hit me that something was up,” said Tank.
Scott Sherman is the principal at Fremont High School. He said, “When he walked through, he knew something was up.”
Reflecting on the moment he walked through the curtain, Tank said, “I’ll tell you, when I walked through the curtain and everybody’s kind of staring and me, that’s when it hit me and it was pretty awesome to hear all the students and then also seeing my immediate family, my wife and children and also my parents were there as well. So, that was amazing.”
“It’s so deserving. I was so grateful, just genuinely happy,” said Sherman.
Tank described feeling emotional, saying, “To be honest, I got choked up and I did shed a couple tears, but I tell my students all the time it’s okay to be emotional. It’s okay to be a real person.”
“He builds relationships and out of that comes the furniture and the incredible designs. That’s why it’s important to recognize him. That’s what we do as teachers. We connect and use those connections in order to grow students,” said Sherman.
Tank explained how he got into teaching, and said, “My father was actually a football coach, and I always admired him in regards to what he was able to do with relationships with students just as a football coach.”
Not only is he building those relationships, he’s running a successful industrial arts program.
Sherman said, “They win national awards.”
This is thanks in part to what this teacher calls his dream shop, which Tank designed after the school moved into a new building in 2012.
“Rick stepped up to the plate. He said, ‘I’ll take care of the designing and I’ll work with the architects,’” said Sherman.
“There’s not a day that I’ve woken up and said, ‘Hm, darn, I’ve got to go to work today,'” said Tank.
The Teacher of the Week surprise just happened to fall on Tank’s birthday week.
Principal Sherman spoke on the importance of teachers and the role they play, saying, “Public schools are absolutely critical to our success as a nation.” He added, “Just saying I appreciate what you do is really important and it’s not just that moment. It lives on for a long, long time.”
If you have someone you’d like to nominate as our next Teacher of the Week, just text the word “teacher” to 616-559-1310.
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