At Beechview, Awards are All in the Family

Following the "prize patrol" as honored outstanding teachers and support personnel this year naturally came with surprises. Every one of the honorees looked genuinely shocked.

But when Oakland Schools came to Wednesday to honor Bobbie Blazo as their Oakland County Elementary Teacher of the Year, I got a surprise. Turns out Blazo isn't the only county-wide winner with ties to her school.

Principal Dr. Sharon Cooper told Blazo's third graders during the announcement that another member of their school family, Amanda McCartney, had been named the county's High School Teacher of the Year. McCartney is the daughter of school secretary Jan Chekirda and attended Beechview.

Chekirda said her daughter wanted to be a teacher since before she was old enough to go to school. "When I had my day care, when she was three, she couldn't wait for the kids to wake up, so she could play school with them," she said.

McCartney has been with Walled Lake Schools since she started teaching in 2004, after graduating from and Eastern Michigan University, where she earned a Master's degree. She teaches students with autism spectrum disorders, and works with students who have severe disabilities, Chekirda said.

In her 13th year at Beechview, Chekirda couldn't be more proud of her daughter, and of Blazo. While she has always admired the profession, she said, "The teachers now are just amazing."

As I was looking through the press releases for both awards, the nominations for both teachers were filled with words like "dedication", "passion" and "exceptional". But one word was common to both: Love.

Two teachers, a generation apart, tied together by a school community that inspired them to love education.

How cool is that?