Hill teacher honored with A-plus award sponsored by Western Governors University

Dr. Terrence Hopson of Western Governors University presented the A-plus award for January to “Mister Michael” at Hill, citing the sponsor’s support for the recognition.

The award nomination, read aloud by a presenter, quoted student Rushil Sarda’s essay describing the honoree as “a shining light who teaches with clarity and passion.” The presenter read, “His teaching has clarity. His work has passion. His relationships to students has strength,” and added, “His experience has worthiness, and his smartness is awesome. Just well said.”

A separate commenter on the program said, “Chris has been a strong staff member at Hill for over 25 years and he works with students at all grade levels and actually kind of encourages some kids to get involved in robotics.”

Mister Michael, accepting the award, thanked the group and described his long involvement with the school’s robotics program: “Well, the robotics I’ve been with since the beginning when it started when we’ve had 1 robot and I had 36 kids and trying to figure out how to make that happen. It really it’s not like a job at all. It’s just something you really enjoy going to and and I just enjoy every day, enjoy the kids and your enthusiasm carries over to them. So that’s just what I always try to every day I come with a positive attitude and try to portray that. You go through so many years of teaching and you do get a little recognition, but overall, you know, nobody really sees what you’re doing.” He added, “So it’s really nice to see the impact that you have on the kids.”

The remarks in the program emphasized the honoree’s role in encouraging students to join robotics and noted long service at Hill, including a cited figure of more than 25 years of staff service.