"I can truthfully tell you that my students taught me everything that was important about being a teacher," said National Teacher of the Year Chauncey Veatch in an emotional account of his experiences teaching immigrant students in Coachella Valley High School in Thermal.
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National Teacher of the Year Chauncey Veatch wins a standing ovation from Council delegates. |
A member of the Coachella Valley Teachers Association, Veatch told State Council how surprised he was to be selected for the national honor after only seven years in the teaching profession. When he retired after 22 years as an officer in the U.S. Army Infantry, Veatch took up teaching as a second career, earning his credential on the job.
Noting that his military career began in grim times - in 1968 - he said, "We again face grim times, but as I say in every state I visit, we show our value in the tough times, not the easy times. I can say that, in a democracy, there is no job, no career that is more patriotic than to be a teacher."
Veatch is using his platform as National Teacher of the Year to try to improve services for migrant students around the country - even in areas where citizens don't think they have significant migrant populations.
As a result of his visit to North Carolina, officials there have decided to host a conference on the problems migrant students face. He hopes to have a similar effect when he visits Louisiana, where he says many white families have fled the public school system, leaving a large African American and immigrant student population.
"I will talk about how wonderful, how great, how successful, how valuable, how priceless our public education system is," he said.
"It is with pride that I have insisted we understand the great diversity and the richness of the contributions of those who come from many locales."