Dear Ortonville-Brandon Community,

The week of May 2nd was teacher appreciation week across the country. As we celebrated the profession of teaching, it led me to reflect on how blessed I have been by great teachers throughout my life. This includes many classroom teachers, my parents, my coaches, and a host of other mentors that made an impact on me along the way. As an adult looking back, I am so thankful for each of these people and the powerful lessons that I learned along the way. I still hear their words of wisdom, I hear their encouragement, and I hear them demanding my best work. As I look for a way to honor these life-changing teachers and the hundreds of thousands of teachers across the country, I would like to share the following ways that “great teachers” truly make a difference:
· A great teacher sees your potential and never quits until you reach it.
· A great teacher never accepts a mediocre effort. They demand your best work.
· A great teacher is caring and supportive.
· A great teacher is your biggest cheerleader when you succeed.
· A great teacher is committed to helping you find your future pathway in life.
· A great teacher is an outstanding role model for their students.
· A great teacher doesn’t see teaching as a job, but rather a calling.
· A great teacher inspires a life-long love of learning in those that they teach.

While this is only a few of the many ways that great teachers make a difference, I am awed by the powerful influence that teachers have had on each of us, our children and the future . Here in the Brandon School District, I am honored to work with so many exemplary teachers knowing that they are positively impacting yet another generation of Ortonville-Brandon youth.

In closing, I would like to share the following quote by Henry Adams: “a teacher effects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

Thank you to all of the dedicated teachers in the Brandon School District and to all that have answered the call to teach!

Thank you teachers and Go Blackhawks!!!

Sincerely,

Matthew S. Outlaw
Matthew S. Outlaw
Superintendent for the Brandon School District