When you do the right thing, even when no one is looking, you can change the world. It's a lesson that I repeat every year, to all 300+ students that I've taught thus far, and I still believe that it's true. This past year, this simple truth became a reality to my 33 sixth graders and me in a way that I could have never imagined. In April this year (2015), I heard a story on the news about a Seattle-based CEO named Dan Price who was concerned about his employees' well-being, so he decided to do something about it. He lowered his own salary in order to implement a minimum $70,000 salary for each person at his company. I happened to be working on lesson plans when I came across the story, and noticed that it was time that students would be learning to write business letters. I was also very thankful to have such a positive current event to share with my students. When I shared the story about Mr. Price, and told the students that I thought it'd be fun to send him letters, they all agreed! We were impressed with his selfless decision, and thought his generosity was a perfect example of the values that we try to instill in our students here at Woodbury. In my wildest dreams, I thought it would have been the coolest to get a letter back from Mr. Price, or maybe even have him Skype in to chat with the kids for a few minutes. A few weeks later, Mr. Battenfield alerted me that NBC Nightly News had heard about our letters and wanted to interview us. When he told me, my initial reaction was, "Why??" I didn't really think we had done anything out of the ordinary, and I certainly didn't have a clue what was coming! On Monday, May 18th, we received quite the surprise. After the NBC crew had filmed for a while, they asked me to go to the front of the room so that they could get some wide angle shots. Not realizing that it was a ploy to get me up front, I obliged, began a quick grammar review, and just moments later, Dan Price walked in and introduced himself! He spent the next hour or so talking to the students, inspiring them to do the right thing, and to take risks and work hard. He gave them T-Shirts from his company, Gravity Payments, and then told them that if they continue to write to him once each year, he's going to set aside a $1,000 scholarship for college for each student. Though it's been a couple of months since his visit, the reality of this surprise is still sinking in for me. I can't thank Dan Price enough for the gifts that he gave to us all. We are so thankful that we got to meet him, and that he would come all the way down to Orange County to spend time with us at Woodbury. Dan, you definitely have fans in Irvine! If you haven't had the chance to see the NBC story, you can watch it here. Comments are closed.
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AuthorsMiss Dimitruk & her 6th Graders Archives
March 2016
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