Everyday Heroes is a regular feature in this staff blog. Remember to submit names of employees districtwide who have done something deserving of encouragement and praise. Give a shout-out to one of your colleagues at your school or support building and watch for it to appear in an upcoming Everyday Heroes blog post.

Here are our newest honorees:

Everyday Hero
Sophath ‘Mr. Pat’ Min, Custodian, McLane Elementary

I would like to nominate our custodian at McLane Sophath ‘Pat’ Min for the Everyday Hero. He is always willing to jump in and help. Great story, we have a new student that speaks Russian. Pat went home and learned how to say “Hello my name is Mr. Pat” and “one milk at lunch” in Russian!! This student was very happy to hear him communicating and had a HUGE smile. Thank you Pat for helping this student feel welcomed at McLane. I want you to know these kiddos here appreciate you. Also, thank you for keeping our spaces clean and maintained. McLane would be a mess without you!
Submitted by Amy Long, Paraeducator, McLane Elementary

Everyday Hero
Chris Cunningham, Data and Compliance Coordinator and Building Assessment Coordinator, Olympia Regional Learning Academy

Christopher is a wonderful part of the ORLA Team. If it’s a dress up theme day, he’s on it! You can always hear him laughing wherever he goes. He is energetic, enthusiastic and very intelligent. He makes ORLA shine! As we all know, technology has its ups and downs. Tech problems are rescued by Chris, he is a GREAT problem solver. He’s on top of state testing deadlines for teachers. He makes videos, as well as step by step directions, to make our jobs easier and more importantly, compliant. As a Special Education teacher, data tracking with behavior charts is very important. Christopher designed an electronic teacher fill in form to produce a high quality data collector/producer that provided a very colorful, graphic parent report that was above and beyond. There are no limits to his dedication to the students and teachers of ORLA, recently, he has added yet another huge task . . . YEARBOOK!!!

Thank you for your consideration of Christopher, who should wear a cape for his ORLA school uniform!!
Submitted by Susan Gonzales

How to nominate an Everyday Hero

• Email the Communications and Community Relations Department (communications@osd.wednet.edu) a few sentences, and no more than 200 words, about why the person deserves recognition. It’s easiest to write as if speaking directly to the colleague, such as “Thank you for helping with…” or “I really appreciated when you…”
• Write “Everyday Heroes” in the subject heading of the email.
• Include your first and last name as the person submitting the comments.
• Include the first and last name of the OSD employee you are recognizing.
• Include the job title and work location (school or department) of the person you are recognizing.

All submissions will be posted in this blog on a weekly basis and archived each week.