Just got off the phone with Alex – who was California’s 2009 Teacher of the Year and one of the four finalists for National Teacher of the Year. (so proud and not surprised at all by his phenomenal success)
He told me that when he was at the White House ceremony for the Teachers of the Year, the teachers from the 50 states and the U.S. territories were standing in the Rose Garden waiting for Barack and Michelle Obama to begin the ceremony. One of the teachers from a U.S. territory (I forgot which one Alex said) quietly said out loud: I can’t believe I’m here.
Many of the other teachers nodded and murmured in agreement.
“No…I mean I can’t believe I’m here,” he repeated. “Last year someone broke into my house and stabbed me 15 times in the chest and left me for dead. I can’t believe I’m here.”
Yeah…he was probably feeling a little more of the surreality than the rest.