RSD Dec 09
Posted by somovillager on January 23, 2010
Holiday Presents Come Early for Outstanding Teacher
What if a magic cube showed up at your door? What could fit into a box measuring 1 meter high, 1 meter wide, and 1 meter long?
Earlier this year the children at V.H. Lassen School wondered about these questions. The 5th graders also giggled and chatted outside of their classroom in anticipation of surprising their teacher. You see, they were helping their principal and a crew from Office Max deliver a special gift.
Their teacher, Irma Payan, was selected for “A Day Made Better.” Principal Hamed El-Afandi nominated Ms. Payan for this program because of her dedication to the children. Office Max looks for teachers who are committed to student achievement. “Every year Ms. Payan spends so much of her own money to provide supplies for the students. I thought it was time to give something back to her after 28 years of excellent service to the Roosevelt School District.”
Fortunately, Office Max helps 1,300 teachers across the nation each year by delivering all of these special boxes on the same day. Each box is packed full of school materials to keep the teacher’s classroom well supplied. Their “Day Made Better” program was founded in direct response to the fact that collectively across the United States, over 3.2 million teachers spend $4 billion of their own money annually to provide necessary materials for their students. Through these generous donations, Office Max works to “erase teacher funded classrooms.”
However, part of the fun is that Office Max surprises the winners. So no one knows who will get that magic cube at their door. They also don’t know exactly what will be inside the box. It is kind of like Santa Claus coming early. Should we see what Ms. Payan and her class of students got?
The local Arizona Office Max “Impress” Team packed this gift box full of the following items: chair, printer, digital camera, flash drive, dry
erase board, computer paper, colored paper pens, pencils, markers, crayons, clips, folders, post-it notes, and lots of other knick knacks.
When asked for her initial reaction, Ms. Payan said “I just told the kids that I am going to get a new chair and printer after school today.” So the timing and contents were perfect for this special gift box because it truly did make her day better.
We thank all of the teachers and staff throughout the Roosevelt School District for their continued dedication to the children. Each student is like a magic cube because you just never know what each child will grow up to become. The Roosevelt educators make a difference in our neighborhoods every day by doing what is necessary to provide for student learning (unlocking the special contents inside each child).
