A+ Teacher Christian Denning teaches the Trumbull County Education Service Center Multiple Disabilities Uni at W.S. Guy School in Liberty. She is one of the 20 educators honored with the 2018 A+ Teacher award. Photo by R. Michael Semple

For Hubbard High School biology instructor Tim Headrick, teaching is a second career. After earning a zoology degree at Brigham Young University, he worked for 33 1/2 years at WCI / RG Steel, finishing up as the safety director.

Instead of retiring, he picked up his master’s degree in teaching-integrated science. He’s been teaching for three years.

“I have 11 children with my wife, Debbie. I just feel at home teaching young people,” said Headrick, one of 20 educators selected for the 2018 class of A+ Teacher awards.

In her nomination, biology student Lauryn Laney wrote, “Mr. Headrick showed me that even at an older age, it’s never too late to achieve your dreams.

“My best memory of being in Mr. Headrick’s class was when he showed my class a slideshow of his family and told us that family is most important. I’ll never forget that because at the time, I was distancing myself from my family,” she wrote. “I became closer with my family more than I ever have.”

The common theme in 2018 A+ Teacher awards is how the students who nominated them felt both loved and pushed to succeed.

“In reading through the letters, we noted that all of those receiving this honor helped students not only in their academics but in their personal lives,” Trumbull Retired Teachers Association President Sue Datish said. “The letters noted the teacher who sensed when something was wrong and helped a student through a personal problem, or the teacher who made time to attend a sporting event of a student. Most letters noted how special their teacher made them feel.

“This group of honorees inspired their students to achieve academically and gain confidence in their abilities,” Datish said.

A total of 1,021 nominating letters were received for the awards, which are sponsored by the Tribune Chronicle, Covelli Enterprises, Trumbull County Educational Service Center, Trumbull County Retired Teachers Association and Outback Steakhouse.

The 20 winners will receive dinner at Outback Steakhouse and a personalized award.

Teachers who win the award twice are enshrined in the A+ Hall of Fame and no longer are eligible for further wins. This year’s class features one Hall-of-Famer — Warren G. Harding High School freshman English teacher Melanie Hameed. She first won the award in 1992.

“Before I came to Harding, I got good grades but I didn’t know how to be a student — but that all changed,” Siddiq Currie, one of 29 students who nominated Hameed, wrote. “I stared to excel in my other classes.”

“She is our teacher, our friend and our second mother that we can rely on when we need help with anything,” Daysia Scott-Polland wrote.

“And yeah, she puts hard work on us but she’s just trying to get us where we need to be in life,” Janiaya Weatherby wrote. “If she’s not the best, I don’t know who is.”

This is the first year that two teachers in the Trumbull County Education Service Center Multiple Disabilities Units were selected — Christian Denning at W.S. Guy Middle School in Liberty and Julie Kurtz at Bascom Elementary in Leavittsburg.

Dolly Schmitt, writing on behalf of son Eric in Denning’s classroom, said, “When you walk into this classroom, you get the feeling of walking into a family. The kids are so friendly, attentive, happy and loved. That’s because Mrs. Denning and her staff will have it no other way.

“Eric is nonverbal, so she was instrumental in getting him an iPad for communication. This has opened up a new world for Eric. He can now tell us how he is feeling, what his likes and dislikes are, and communicate with his friends. It has been amazing.”

She said Eric, a Steelers fan, has a friendly rivalry going with his teacher, a Browns fan.

“She made the ultimate sacrifice and included a “Browns stink” and “Steelers rock” button on his iPad so they can have a conversation when football season starts,” Schmitt said.

Amy Reilly, writing on behalf of son Sean, said Kurtz and her aides, Lori Gollan and Doreen Calderwood “have worked with Sean and he has grown by leaps and bounds.

“These ladies not only have been teachers, but nurturers. Sean has many fears due to his challenges and these ladies have been able to bring him so much happiness. They’ve taught him to read, write, math, etc. He loves going to school,” Reilly wrote.

Kurtz , back in the classroom the last three years after taking 11 years off to be a stay-at-home mom, said she didn’t set out to be a teacher.

“Many years ago, I started college and I wanted to be a social worker. Then I had a friend in college who worked at Fairhaven in the summer,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking special needs, I had no plans to be a teacher. The very first day, I just knew this is what I’m supposed to do.”

Students noticed when instructors went above and beyond. Ashlynne Rakijasic wrote of her teacher, Carolyn Brown at Champion Middle School, ” Mrs. Brown will give up her lunch and prep to help kids who are sick or do not come to school. She buys supplies like highlighters — three for each student — to help us remember how an essay works. If you were to ask, she would tutor you out of her own time even though she has a family to take care of.”

At Chalker High School in Southington, student Breanna Fisher praised Jennifer Senkowitz for caring about more than test scores.

“In 2009, my mom was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which is an extremely rare bone cancer,” Fisher wrote. “By the grace of God, my mom is still with us today.

“Mrs. Senkowitz has been not only my government teacher throughout my high school career but a friend to my family and I. Knowing you always have someone there for you, no matter what, can change someone’s world. Mrs. Senkowitz was never forced to take time out of her day at the beginning of freshman year to get to know me, but she did because that’s just the person she is.”

Six students nominated Hubbard High School woodshop teacher Daniel Scarmack Sr. One of them, Noah Eicheldinger, wrote, “Mr. Scarmack knows that safety, although critical, is not the only ingredient needed to be an excellent teacher as kindness is also key. Every day, Mr. Scarmack asks how our day was and genuinely cares and listens.”

Scarmack, a 14-years veteran, said teaching takes “plenty of patience and a high level of commitment to setting and upholding a high standard for our students. It is ultimately not just our instructional area we are teaching our kids.”

Students also saluted teachers for turning academic hates into loves. Harding High School student Nick Fitzgerald said Gina Tempelis, his fifth-grade English teacher at McGuffey K-8 School, did this for him.

“I struggled a lot, especially with reading and writing,” Fitzgerald said. “Ms. Tempelis started to work with me. She would give me extra help with reading and I started to like to read. I’d be excited to go her class. She turned a subject that I struggled with into a subject I love today.

“I went from a C average to getting straight A’s in high school. … I am now taking advanced English classes and will be graduating with honors in a few weeks.”

Howland Middle School student Jane Bronson recalled how much she disliked math when she went into fourth grade at H.C. Mines Elementary School. “I wasn’t very good at it, either. Then Mrs. (Jenifer) Studer came. That year, I got better at math and like the class, too. She taught math so I could understand, but in a fun way.

“Mrs. Studer also taught me the right decisions in life. I didn’t really think of how much she inspired me to be a good person and to care about my grades,” Bronson wrote. “Thanks to her, I am a 4.0 student and like math. I have also been in advanced math ever since that year. Whenever I succeed as a person or in academics, I think of Mrs. Studer.”

A+ Teacher Greg Lazzari of Newton Falls High School said, “Becoming a good teacher is the willingness to remain a good student by continuing to improve and adjust one’s teaching strategies in the classroom. Enjoying the teaching experience with your student allows for a positive classroom culture where every day can be an adventure.”

Award winner Jim Cerenelli of the Trumbull Career and Technical Center said he teaches because “the world needs great kids to become greater leaders and givers.”

2018 A+ Teacher award winners

• Carolyn Brown

Fifth grade

Champion Middle School

• Jim Cerenelli

Grades 11 and 12

Trumbull Career and Technical Center, Champion

• Dawn Davis

Fourth and fifth grades

STEAM Academy of Warren

• Christian Denning

Grades 6 to 10

Trumbull County ESC Multiple Disabilities Unit

W. S. Guy School, Liberty

• Kristofer Doran

Grades 11 and 12

Trumbull Career and Technical Center, Champion

• Anthony Guarnieri

Seventh grade

Niles Middle School

• Melanie Hameed

Ninth grade

Warren G. Harding High School, Warren

(Hall of Fame inductee)

• Timothy Headrick

Grades 9 and 10

Hubbard High School

• Timothy Howard

Grades 6 to 8 and 10 to 12

Chalker High School, Southington

• Jeffrey Kamovitch

Seventh grade

Howland Middle School

• Julie Kurtz

Trumbull County ESC Multiple Disabilities Unit

Bascom Elementary, Leavittsburg

• Dana Lariccia

Grades 10 to 12

McDonald High School

• Greg Lazzari

Grades 9 to 12

Newton Falls High School

• Andria Morningstar-Gray

Eighth grade

Lakeview High School

• Amber Opperman

Sixth grade

Willard K-8 School, Warren

• Daniel Scarmack Sr.

Grades 9 to 12

Hubbard High School

• Jennifer Senkowitz

Grades 10 to 12

Chalker High School, Southington

• Jenifer Studer

Fourth grade

H.C. Mines Elementary, Howland

• Gina Tempelis

Grades 5 and 6

McGuffey K-8 School, Warren

• Samantha Wiesen

Grades 1 and 2

Willard K-8 School, Warren