Rebecca Venema

Mrs. Rebecca Venema is an amazing teacher. She has taught me and other students to stand up for ourselves and to not be afraid to be ourselves. She has also taught us that it is okay to ask for help. For the past 5 years, I have been struggling emotionally. I opened up once, but then had to move, so I didn't have any support. Eventually, I opened up to Mrs. Venema, as she encouraged all students to be honest and ask for help if needed. I took the opportunity when I finally broke. She made sure that I was comfortable talking to her and let me know that things would get better. She told the school counselor about what I had told her, and made sure that I was safe, because I was really scared, and I was crying and couldn't stop.. After that incident, she always made sure that I was doing okay, and could even tell if I was lying to her. Because of her, I am now on a path of success and feeling healthy in all ways. Not only has Mrs. Venema affected me personally, but she has also affected me academically. I am usually an A student, but I was gone for a while and got behind on my schoolwork. Mrs. Venema helped me be less stressed about my assignments by helping me work out a plan of which to do first and which to do second so that I wouldn't fall behind any more than I already was. Her classroom was always welcoming. She made sure that the students would have a place to relax while learning at the same time. She also made sure that the lessons she was teaching us had activities to go along with them so that we wouldn't be bored. Whenever she noticed that a majority of the students looked dead (figuratively, not literally) she would take a break and do things to try and wake us up. She even taught us the Charleston, well, she tried to. She knew that if we got our blood moving, we would be more awake and ready to learn. She made sure that all her students were welcoming to each other, and that they were welcomed into her classroom. Because of her, many of her students have been affected in a positive way. Almost everybody says that she is their favorite teacher, because of the reasons up above. Not only is Mrs. Venema a wonderful person in school, but she is also a wonderful person out of school. By this, I mean that she is very caring of others. When Hurricane Michael hit Florida, Mrs. Venema organized a fundraiser that would go to a fund to help the victims of the hurricane. Even though she didn't have as many participants as she had hoped for, she was still grateful for those that did participate. Because of this, I believe that Mrs. Venema should be acknowledged for all her hard work. She is very humble, and I think it would mean a lot to her to know that she is very much appreciated by the students she teaches. I hope Mrs. Rebecca Venema is highly considered for this award.

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