Art Almquist lied to his students, and it kills him.๏ปฟ
Almquist, who teaches theater at Tucson High Magnet School, got a call from People magazine about a month ago to inform him he had won the Peopleโs Choice award in the national publicationโs Teacher of the Year competition.
But they swore him to secrecy. His students โ many of whom had organized get-out-the-vote campaigns through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr after the nominations were announced in August โ asked him constantly if he had heard anything. ๏ปฟ
“The worst was not being able to tell the students,” Almquist said Wednesday morning, shortly after People gave him the go-ahead to make it public. The winners list appeared on People.com Wednesday.
โThey were a big part of it. I hated to lie to them.โ
This is the second year People has presented Teacher of the Year awards, given for excellence in teaching, and the first that it had a Peopleโs Choice category.
Almquist and his wife, Amy, leave for New York City today for a presentation and an awards luncheon on Friday. โI had to buy a suit,โ Almquist said with a laugh. โI havenโt done that in 20 years.โ
Teachers from across the country had been nominated for the honor. The magazine editors had narrowed the voluminous number of Peopleโs Choice nominations to six, and then posted them on the website and asked readers to vote.
โThousands upon thousands of people voted,โ said a spokesperson for the magazine.
On Wednesday afternoon, shortly before Almquist was to begin rehearsal for a student production, he announced the award to his student actors, though social networking had seen to it that they already knew. Still, loud cheering and enthusiastic applause followed.
For the next several minutes, whenever anyone said โteacher of the year,โ the students erupted in cheers again. It was a bit like going to a show at The Gaslight Theatre, where the hero is cheered whenever he pops up on stage.
The award comes with a $1,000 prize for Almquist and $4,000 for the school, both to be presented by People at a school assembly on Monday.
Five other entries were also tapped for the Teacher of the Year honor, though they were picked by a panel of educators from the narrowed-down nominations. They will be joining Almquist for the New York City festivities.
“He has built a cutting-edge theater program rarely seen on the high school level,” the People.com announcement said about Almquist. “To Almquist, known for staging productions on topics such as AIDS, environmental activism and immigration, theater offers a way to teach his students a variety of skills that go beyond acting.”
But it is his creative teaching skills and strong empathy for students that made so many of them vote so often.
โI canโt remember how many times I voted for Mr. Almquist,โ said Keisha Downing, a 17-year-old THMS senior.๏ปฟ
โHeโs been such an inspiration to me. โฆ Whenever I had problems, I could go to him. Heโs like a second father to me. He would encourage me. And heโs such a sweet person.โ
Thereโs a momentary lull among the students, and Nicolle Aragon, a junior, speaks up.๏ปฟ
โCan I read what my mom said on Facebook?โ she asks Almquist and her classmates.
โCongratulations to Tucson High and more important Mr. Art Almquist, an amazing educator and drama instructor,โ Nicolleโs mother, Dawn Landis Lopez, wrote.๏ปฟ
โYou make a difference every day.โ
Lopez said later on the phone that Almquistโs work is inspirational to the students and the parents.
Nicolle, 16, echoes her mother.
Three years ago, she was a shy freshman at the school, nervous and slightly withdrawn.
โHe made it really comfortable,โ she said of Almquist. โThe way he runs class, it feels like family. He made it so much easier.โ
โIโve watched him teach,โ said THMSโ principal, Clarice Clash. โHis lesson clarity, his ability to motivate students, his instructional precision is unparalleled.โ๏ปฟ
Almquist is grateful for the accolades. But teaching, he says, is his biggest honor.
โI love seeing the spark of excitement and connection that happens in students when they are working on a scene or doing improv or having that moment that just clicks,โ he says.
โI feel in doing that, I am bringing hope to the world.โ
