The Garden City Telegram
Email this story | Add Your Comment
| Read (0) Comments
Calvin relishes chance to be role model
Published 11/11/2009 in Local News
Editor's note: This is the first in a six-part series featuring the 2009 nominees for the Crystal Apple Award, presented to outstanding educators in Finney County. Today's story features Mark Calvin, a history and sociology teacher at Garden City High School. Thursday's story will feature Roger Syng of Charles O. Stones Intermediate Center.
By MONICA SPRINGER
mspringer@gctelegram.com
Click to Purchase Photo Reprints! Brad Nading/Telegram Garden City High School history teacher Mark Calvin talks to one of his classes about the 1920s Tuesday. Calvin is one of the instructors nominated for this year’s Crystal Apple teacher awards.
High school teachers get to be role models to students who don't always have role models in their life, Mark Calvin, a finalist for the Crystal Apple Award, said.
Calvin, who teaches history and sociology at Garden City High School, said teachers at the high school level put the polishing touches on students -- like putting wax on the finish.
"You get to impact their life before they go off to college, or a technical school, or enter the workforce," Calvin said. "Teaching is a great thing. You get to be a role model."
Calvin is one of six finalists for the Crystal Apple Award. The CARE Task Force of the Garden City Area Chamber of Commerce, which is made up of representatives from the business community, announced the finalists last week.
Calvin, originally from Guyman, Okla., graduated from Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Goodwell, Okla., with a degree in teaching.
He previously taught in Enid, Okla., Garden City and Michigan, before returning to Garden City in 2008 to be closer to family.
Calvin teaches U.S. history and sociology at GCHS. He said he likes getting to know the students who take his classes and also enjoys teaching history.
"It's great to go to a museum. It gives you an appreciation of what we have now, and we get to see what we had then," Calvin said.
The top three finalists will be named as the 2009 Crystal Apple Teachers of Finney County at a banquet on Nov. 18 and will receive an engraved crystal apple and a $1,000 cash award. The other three finalists will receive a cash award of $250.
Calvin also is the Teaching American History Grant coordinator for USD 457. Working with the University of Kansas, the Finney County Historical Society and High Plains Public Radio, the grant provides in-house training for teachers in history curriculum and allows teachers to tour museums in different parts of the state.
Other finalists for the Crystal Apple award are: Rico Perez, Abe Hubert Middle School; Roger Syng, Charles O. Stones Intermediate Center; Jamie Terry, Victor Ornelas Elementary School; Leslie Wagner, Charles O. Stones Intermediate Center; and Julie Nemechek, Holcomb Middle School.
Major sponsors for the event include: First National Bank of Garden City, Cox Communications, Garden City Public Schools Foundation, Golden Plains Credit Union, doctors Darin & Gloria Hopkins, Dr. Luther and Ardis Fry, Dr. Eric and Jenna Fry, Dr. William and Jean Clifford, Clarion Inn and Conference Center, Staples Inc., and Coleen's Trophies & Gifts.
Reservations for the banquet are required by 5 p.m. Friday. Cost is $25 per person, payable in advance to the Chamber of Commerce, 1511 E. Fulton Terrace. For more information, contact the chamber at 276-3264 or e-mail chamber@gcnet.com.
Found 0 comment(s)!
Twitter Updates
