Teacher Appreciation Tuesday in South Lake Tahoe

One year ago, the Lake Tahoe Unified School District sent out a text that none of us were quite expecting: schools are closing and we're moving to distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From that moment on, the lives of every teacher, staff member, parent, and student were drastically altered. Families had to change every part of their daily routine and everyone had to immediately adjust to a whole new world. This year has been hard. But we couldn’t have made it through without the support of the amazing people listed here (and so many more!)

Last week, we asked for LTUSD teacher and staff shout-outs, and you delivered! In fact, we got so many shout-outs that we could only publish the first half here and will publish the rest the next week!

This week’s business sponsors include Alpen Sierra Coffee, Lovin’ Lake Tahoe, and Elevate Wellness. Alpine Sierra coffee has generously donated a bag of its delicious coffee to every teacher and staff person nominated in this article! Thank you Christian Waskiewicz, Jonelle Bright, and Melinda Choy for your generosity!

Please join us in honoring these amazing teachers and staff!

Chad Laurence
•Winner! Single Sauna Session at Elevate Wellness
•Mathematics teacher at all High School grade levels
•“Literacy is FREEDOM!”
•Nominated by: Wendy and Adam Muskovitz, “Mr. Lawrence is encouraging, kind, caring, informative and fun! He makes learning exciting and makes the kids believe in themselves and able to accomplish the work! Great to have a teacher that explains the information in such a positive way that makes a teenager want to listen and learn! Such a top-notch teacher!!!” Thank you for all you do for our kids!!

Isaiah Tannaci
•Winner! Lovin’ Lake Tahoe T-Shirt and Stickers
•Sports Medicine 1, 2, 3, & 4 which is open for Freshman-Seniors to take as part of the Allied Health Careers Pathway at STHS
•“Literacy is the foundation for knowledge and opportunity.”
•Nominated by Allana Hernandez 9th grade, “Thanks for keeping sports medicine interesting over the past couple of weeks online. I’m looking forward and very excited to being able to be in your actual class. Your hard work and dedication to your class is so appreciated thank you.”

Antonia Gonzalez, Kim Hill, Stephanie Reyes
•All Winners! Lovin’ Lake Tahoe T-Shirt and Stickers
•Special Needs Teachers Aids
•Nominated by Kim Stephenson, “These teachers’ aides have been working closely to our students with Special needs all year. Front Line workers!

Eduardo Guitierrez
•Winner! Lovin’ Lake Tahoe T-Shirt and Stickers
•Head custodian
•Nominated by Kim Stephenson “Thank you Eduardo for keeping the rooms clean and running well.”

Ms. Molesworth
Ms. Molesworth goes above and beyond as a teacher for her 7th graders every single day. She puts in so much love and energy into every one of her classes. She calls on each student and checks in on them. She is kind and thoughtful and the kids really know she cares! She is one of the hardest working teachers at STMS. She helps make Zoom classes fun despite being a Zoom class. We need more teachers like Julie to keep our kids engaged in these challenging times. - Heidi and John Drum

Mrs. Gronwold
I would love to show some appreciation for Mrs. Gronwold from Tahoe Valley. I am so glad she is my son’s kindergarten teacher and hope next year my daughter will have her also. She is just so awesome and fun with the kids. Couldn't ask for a better teacher! Thank you Mrs. Gronwold! - Bekah Gerling

Mrs.Franklin, Aga, Lacey
Thank you for all of your dedication and care for the Special-Ed class. We sincerely appreciate it! -The Munguia Family

Elevated Middle School Team
To the Elevated Middle School team for presenting relevant topics and projects that are meaningful. Social justice, racism, gender roles, environmental issues, and stewardship were some of the important topics covered. Their hard work preparing curriculum is appreciated. – L.E

Mrs. Aaron
Dear Mrs. Aaron,
You are a very special teacher. I feel so lucky to have been in your class for almost two years! I really love math and the way you teach it to me!
Love,
Isla Stockton

Maestra Virrueta
We would like to thank Bijou Kindergarten Maestra Virrueta. Throughout this challenging year, she has remained diligent and organized and has handled all situations with patience and grace. She is readily available to answer parent questions and has exceeded our expectations of how much our son has learned this year, with so much virtual class time. We attribute how surprisingly smooth this school year has been to Maestra Virrueta. – Nicole Patterson

Mrs. Miller and Mr. C
I would like to send an appreciation to Mrs. Miller and Mr. C from Sierra House. Thank you for being awesome teachers to my nephew. It’s been a pleasure having you both as his teachers.
Your dedication is very appreciated. - Cristina Velásquez and Anna Aguilar

Food Services Team
I would like to give a huge Shout Out to our Food Services Team that has been working for the past year to provide meals for all children in the Lake Tahoe community.
We have coordinated with the LTUSD Transportation Team to deliver meals to bus stops while the students were learning virtually from home. Meals have been planned, prepared, packed and delivered non-stop. We also have to show appreciation for the Custodial Team that has been working every day to keep all of the staff and students safe.
We could not do our jobs without the support of each team member!

Thank you!
Tammy Miller, Director of Food Services

Ms. Greenough
Thanks for always trying to make Biology so fun and interesting even when we were all sitting at home. I’m Looking forward to being in class with you finally. Thanks for all your hard work, it definitely doesn’t go unnoticed. - Allana Hernandez, 9th grade

Coach Hennessy
How is it I feel like we have known each other forever but actually finally just met in person this last week? You are so great and thanks for all you do. Looking forward to another fun semester with an awesome teacher. Thanks - Allana Hernandez, 9th grade

Ms. Miller
Geez how I love your energy, you make every class with you exciting. Thanks for your positivity and lifting me up to be a great student. Thank you - Allana Hernandez, 9th grade

Chelsea Crist
I want to give a shout out to Chelsea Crist who is a special education resource teacher here at Sierra House.

Chelsea works with multiple teachers within many grade levels to collaborate, educate and assist with teaching specialized techniques and strategies to students with a variety of educational needs. She provides materials that are appropriate for a multitude of learning styles for both in-person and distance learning and has been doing this from day one back in September. She has been seeing students in person since that time as well, acknowledging the risk but determining that our students with special needs do their best with in-person intervention. Chelsea has a full caseload and has been working with students before school starts and goes until 3 PM every day--a full 90 minutes longer than the facetime required of general education teachers at this juncture of our phases plan.

Additionally, she must organize and orchestrate numerous IEP's which require a slew of attendees that she must contact and confirm their ability and intention to attend. She is legally accountable for these meetings and acts as her own secretary with phone calls and paperwork for the meeting as well as follow up. She has had to schedule many meetings early which includes assessment of these students as well as report write ups, goal creation and service provision considerations--all while concurrently providing services.

The mastery required of technology can't be understated; the learning curve has been steep for all teachers and Chelsea has charged on with both digital sessions as well as ensuring the materials are specially curtailed to each student's individual needs. She has mastered meeting platforms and utilizes their features to make the meetings as interactive as possible.

Chelsea has been doing all these amazing things under incredible pressure and stress and all while expecting her first baby! I am blown away by her commitment to her job, her love for the students and her perseverance through the many roller coasters provided by our stressful work environment. If there is anyone out there that deserves a shout out, it is Chelsea Crist. - Jessika Fox

Jill DeSoucy
To Jill DeSoucy (3rd grade Elevated) for her tireless commitment to providing engaging content and incorporating Art and STEAM that is fun and interesting. Mrs. DeSoucy is a patient and kind teacher that has great lessons during a challenging time. Mrs. DeSoucy brings her positive energy to each class. Our family is thankful our child is in her class. - L.E

Mr. Moldenhauer
We would love to give a Big Shoutout to Mr. Moldenhauer as he is an Amazing teacher!
Thank you for all your patience and kindness!
Skyla Pyfer and my
Ali (mom) Rob (dad)

If you didn’t see your shout-out in this week’s article, it will be in there next week!

There’s still time if you’d like to submit a shout-out and nominate a teacher or staff for gift from a local business. Please email your shout-out to muppendahl@liftliterature.com to be included in next week’s article. If you’d like to learn more about Lift Literature, please visit www.liftliterature.com or follow us on Facebook or Instagram.

Last week's shoutouts - http://southtahoenow.com/story/03/09/2021/teacher-appreciation-tuesday-south-lake-tahoe.