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Teacher of the Week never thought 'something like this could happen'

Vernonell Smith Jr. is only in his first full year of teaching—and already someone reached out to nominate him as our Teacher of the Week.

ITHACA, Mich. — He’s only in his first full year of teaching and already someone reached out to nominate him as our next Teacher of the Week. This surprise took us out to North Elementary School in Ithaca.

After students gathered to surprise teacher Vernonell Smith Jr., he said, “I was shocked.”

Jessie Rayburn, the principal at North Elementary School, was also thrilled, saying, “I’m so excited that one of our teachers was recognized because we do put in a lot of hard work that does go unnoticed and, yay, finally we have a teacher that was recognized for their services and not necessarily by me but by the community.”

The surprise brought on a lot of emotion for Smith.

“I’m a big believer in God. This is one of those moments where God’s coming through and he’s talking to me and he’s showing me I’m doing the right thing and it wouldn’t be possible without these guys behind me,” said Smith tearfully.

He started with the district last school year and also works as an assistant football coach.

“I’m working and trying to make these kids the best that they can be and it just – teaching just means a lot to me,” said Smith, as he added that, “I couldn’t be happier with where I am and who I teach and who I work with.”

Principal Rayburn said, “He has added so much to our students. They all respect him. He’s built great relationships with them.”

Smith said some days are more difficult than others, saying, “I mean, there are challenging days and obviously every day is not going to be perfect and you wonder what am I doing right? What am I doing wrong?”

“We definitely go through times where teaching and any job can be very stressful and we have our lows and we have our highs and this was a definite perk right before the holidays," said Rayburn.

Still in shock, Smith said, “Never in my life did I think something like this could happen.”

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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