The “Be Golden” award is a new faculty and staff recognition program at the high school.

This award is given weekly by a faculty/staff member to another faculty/staff member. Whoever receives the trophy on Friday is responsible for awarding it to someone else the following week. The only criteria are to give it to someone who has done something to make the school a better place.

“With the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) initiative in our school, we want to not only recognize students for being golden but staff members as well,” said Shannon Davis, the award program coordinator. “This is a way to personally thank people we work with every day, but don’t always have the chance to show them how much they are appreciated.”    

Last week the award went to Mrs. Karen Railing.

She chose to give the award to Mrs. Jessica Anderson.

Mrs. Raling’s Quote:

“Jessica is an extraordinary employee.  Her dedication to TASD and her desire to make sure she is doing A+ work is inspiring to everyone around her. Jess’ interactions with co-workers, students and parents are always encouragingly constructive and helpful.  Jess is one of those special people that you are always glad to see enter the room because you know she brings confidence, is always helpful and makes everything better no matter the subject. Duties of the Special Education Coordinator for K-12 require her presence in 3 different buildings on most days.  Her crazy schedule brings room for error, confusion, and discouragement in the running from building to building, meeting to meeting and duty to duty at a maddening pace.  These things are not the result of Jess’ every day. Instead, she balances her overwhelming, chaotic schedule with great efficiency, charm, and a genuine smile on her face.  Everyone that has the pleasure of knowing and working with Jess can’t help but be positively impacted by her attitude and work ethic.  The dictionary definition of Special; better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual describes our Special Education Supervisor to a “T” and she is more than deserving of the Golden Eagle Award.”

The Eagle Eye interviewed Mrs. Anderson about being this week’s award winner:

Eagle Eye: What encouraged you to become a teacher?

Jessica Anderson: “I love helping and supporting others, so teaching was a natural fit for me.”

EE: What do you enjoy most about being a teacher?

JA: “This is what I miss most about not being in the classroom daily, being present and able to celebrate with a student when they have met goals or understand a concept.”

EE: Is this your dream job? If not, what is?

JA: “I love what I do, but I enjoy gardening and landscaping.”