In Celebration of Our Teachers

Dear MVROP Community,

Education faces numerous multi-layered challenges every year. It is not an easy industry to work in and is not for the faint-hearted. Those who have chosen to be a part of this essential service commit to playing endless roles: motivators, innovators, providers of information, and mentors to generations of young minds. We ask a lot of our teachers, and this school year, we have asked more than ever before.

The dedication and bravery of our healthcare and first responder workers is like no other, as they step into the heart of the problem, treating, healing, and consoling the struggle and loss created by this pandemic. They have our utmost respect. However, there is another group, also passionate and steady, who has rallied amidst this uncertain time. They have carved uncharted paths creating connections and new virtual editions of instruction for students, ensuring Career Technical Education (CTE) for nearly 4,000 MVROP students continues in the process. They are our invaluable teachers, the unsung heroes working each day to make an impact on their students’ lives. As we virtually celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, I am especially appreciative of their pivotal role at MVROP and in CTE.

For our teachers, this is the second chapter of their careers, post industry, serving a critical role in CTE. Often, the hard work continues long after they have left the classroom. The task of reaching each student and inspiring their ability to learn and apply CTE is the most rewarding of challenges. In the classroom, our teachers provide connection, support, and impart industry skills gained through life experience, aiding students to integrate this new knowledge in their career journey.

MVROP is grateful for the dedication, passion, patience, and drive our teachers to provide their students and our programs every day. That is in a normal school year. Now, in light of a global pandemic that has the world adjusting normal daily life to a dramatically altered version, our teachers have pivoted to meet the challenges of remote learning. Where hands-on skills now meet the virtual classroom, our teachers have remained steadfast ensuring connection, adapted CTE curriculum, and compassion greet students each time they log in. In each industry pathway, I see examples of learning driven by outside-the-box creativity. It comes in many forms, like teachers mailing ingredients to their class so they can make a recipe, securing industry experts to speak with students in virtual classrooms, to creating TikTok videos celebrating traditional school milestones for their senior students. It is inspiring to witness the variety and lengths they continue to explore and empathy provided to students grappling with the loss of their school year, social connections, and important rite of passage traditions like prom and graduation. They absorb this, allowing the space for it to be heard and acknowledged, and encourage students to see the positive in their future. They do this while experiencing their personal feelings, hardships, and family shelter in place challenges.

We are all enduring the high and low moments resulting from necessary mitigation efforts to prevent transferring this highly contagious virus. It looks different for each household. What has resulted is understanding and a stronger sense of community, even as we practice physical distance. While we collectively are doing our part to ensure the community’s safety, let us also celebrate the foundation of education and our classrooms- teachers and the critical roles they play to our youth. MVROP recognizes and celebrates our teaching staff and welcomes the community to join us as we continue to virtually acknowledge their importance for Teacher Appreciation Week.

We are remote, but we remain connected and are stronger together.

Sincerely,

Thomas Hanson

Superintendent, Mission Valley ROP