Focus on TUSD - October 2007

Rewarding Effort: OfficeMax Surprises Hohokam Teacher With Supplies
When the husband of Maggie Thompson, a seventh-grade Hohokam Middle School teacher, told her the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 2, that she should wear something dressier to class, she wondered why he had taken such a sudden interest in her clothing. And when he volunteered to take the couple's 3-year-old twin sons to daycare, she was even more suspicious.

But when an entourage of 20 people burst into her room a few hours later, she had her answer. An OfficeMax manager wheeled in a cartload of supplies valued at over a thousand dollars, followed by her husband, Doug, their sons, and Hohokam staff.

Elaine Kassimatis, the OfficeMax manager at 3838 N. Oracle Road, told Thompson she'd been selected as a winner in the chain's "A Day Made Better," the company's community initiative in partnership with the nonprofit organization Adopt-A-Classroom. More than 1,000 teachers like Thompson, nominated by their principals, were honored across the country in response to teachers often spending their own money on classroom supplies.

Thompson, who is in her second year of teaching reading at Hohokam, 7400 S. Settler Road, settled on three words to express her amazement at the sudden richness. "Oh, my gosh," she repeatedly exclaimed as she held up supplies from the box on the cart, which she also was told to keep. She had colored paper packs, mechanical pencils, scissors, a label maker, glue sticks, 750 stickers bearing bright smiling faces, a pail of sidewalk chalk, a desktop organizer, writing tablets, and other supplies buried at the bottom.

"Oh, kids, we are going to have so much fun," she said, a big smile spreading across her face.

And that wasn't all. OfficeMax staff wheeled in an executive style, high-backed leather chair to replace her plastic and metal one. And the atmosphere got even more festive with the bouquets of flowers, cake, balloons and punch that followed. Her students, who had been in on the secret, were delighted, as well as her family and co-workers, who applauded for her.

"I'm happy she got this," said Whitney Gerriets, one of her students. "This will help us learn. I'm a better learner because she's here. It's kind of like Christmas today."

Classmate Jessy Kempton said, "I thought I knew everything about reading and apparently I don't. I've learned so much about prefixes and suffixes and expanded my vocabulary.

Besides classroom instruction, Thompson was lauded for the personal interaction and concern she demonstrates for her students. Layla Salazar, the seventh-grade counselor, called Thompson "amazing," adding that she is a mother to her students. "The kids respond greatly to her," Salazar explained. "She's very nurturing and loving to them. Hokokam is very lucky to have her. I depend on her to help me with the kids. She knows all about their learning abilities and the personal situations that affect their school lives."

Her principal, John Michel, a veteran TUSD administrator, called Thompson a team player. "She does things for the school and never complains," he said. "If I had 55 teachers like her, I'd put a couch in my office and take a nap. Every day you see her, she has a smile on her face. She makes my day. Gosh, she's so good. It was hard to nominate her because we have excellent teachers here."

And her husband said, "She loves the kids. That's what keeps her here."

As she accepted hugs from everyone in the middle of the hoopla in her room, Thompson said she planned to sit in her new chair all day. She humbly said that although she knew she had been nominated, there were hundreds of others also nominated.

"I was just one of many," she said.

These TUSD teachers were also honored in the Adopt-A-Classroom program:

• Fifth-grade teacher Alberto Olivas at C.E. Rose Elementary School, 710 W. Michigan Drive
• First-grade teacher Robin Green at Wright Elementary School, 4311 E. Linden St.
• Third-grade teacher Angela North at Manzo Elementary School, 855 N. Melrose.

-- By Sharon Dunham
Communications & Media Relations