Throughout all my years of attending Richmond Elementary and my one year at Arrowhead High School, there is one teacher that has stuck out to me for being a teacher and a coach. That teacher is Mr. Leland. He is a Social Studies teacher for seventh and eighth graders at Richmond Elementary (now he has moved to teach at Templeton). He was also a basketball coach for a couple of years and I was lucky enough to have him for one year.

His teaching methods actually made learning fun and made Social Studies my favorite subject. I had no problem asking questions around him about school or non-school stuff or coming in for help. I always felt comfortable while being around him and even talking about sports in class with him and some of my friends.

From the beginning of eighth grade year till the end, each day he gave us three questions on the Citizenship Test and we all asked why and he said, “You’ll need it later in life specifically during freshman year.” We were all puzzled. And during my freshman year, for my final in Social Studies, we had to take the Citizenship Test. And with his help, I got an A+ on it and I was ecstatic about it. It even raised my grade some percents. Now I understand why he made us answer the three questions per day for class no matter how boring it was.

He was super nice and really funny. He always made jokes and made us all laugh. He was also really into March Madness. During March Madness, he let us watch it towards the end of class on our computers when we completed all of our school work. And out of class, he let us come in for lunch and recess and watch it on his SMART Board. I’m really glad he did this because now every year me and my friends make brackets

Towards the end of eighth grade year, there is this thing called the Student-Athlete of the Year award. It was a really big trophy awarded to one boy and one girl for being smart and being a leader on and off the court for Volleyball and Basketball (a student had to play both sports the qualify). Twenty minutes before the award’s ceremony he was finishing his speech for the Student-Athlete and all the boys were just sitting in his room trying to guess who it was going to be. I had no clue it would be me out of all people. When he announced it I remember him saying “The Student-Athlete of the year award goes to… Ryan Kurtz!”. I was really surprised and super happy and I’d never think it’d be me. I went up, grabbed the trophy, and sat back down. Then, Mr. Leland gave a speech about me and it was super cool. Getting that trophy was the best sendoff I could have gotten to go into high school with. 

And with that being said, I’d like to thank you, Mr. Leland, for being a good coach, an excellent life mentor and an outstanding teacher.