Teachers have a huge impact on their students, and the positive work they do can stick with kids for a lifetime. Each month, KPAX and sponsor Noller Automotive Supercenter are proud to present a nominated teacher who goes the extra mile. The winning educator of our One Class at a Time grant receives a $500 grant.
Stephanie Anderson is the Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Polson High School who teaches clothing and textiles.
When we stopped by, some of her students gave uniquely designed aprons that they had made to third grade students.
"It is really rewarding especially when you can put kids in a leadership role like today, and they just work so hard to help out the younger kids,” Anderson said. “And it's one of the reasons I chose a project across grades because you can help those kids feel like leaders and see them acting like leaders, and that's a big deal."
Her culinary students arrived to show the younger ones how to make mini-pizzas.
"I can learn how to cook and work as a team,” third grade student Pearl Bagley said.
Anderson oversees a multi-layered, energetic operation, partnering with a third grade teacher. It’s an effort that led to her being named our One Class at a Time winning teacher.
"I was excited first of all because we've been trying to get some funding together so that we can buy the food for the third graders to come and do the cooking,” Anderson told MTN. “And then, of course, I saw who had nominated me, and I thought that was really great. She's a great friend and colleague, so that was really exciting."
Fellow teacher Kris Kelly, who nominated Anderson, says she goes above and beyond with her students.
"She truly cares about what the kids want to learn and how it's going to affect them when they leave here, and it's not just a curriculum to her. It's a whole way of life and getting them to be independent and enjoying what they do," Kelly said.
This is Anderson's sixth year teaching Family and Consumer Sciences at Polson High School and altogether, across several classes, she teaches around 100 students.
"It's very deserved; very deserved. I feel like Mrs. Anderson has worked very hard for it,” Polson High School culinary student Jerium Rushing.
KPAX and One Class at a Time sponsor Noller Automotive Supercenter awarded Anderson a $500 grant. She plans to use the funds to cover the cost of food and supplies for cooking projects, fabric for the aprons and textbooks about helping people who deal with food insecurity.
"Thank you so much everybody for your support for our program and for our students, and I'm really excited that we got this opportunity,” Anderson concluded.
