GALVA, Ill. — Each year News 8 receives nominations from students throughout eastern Iowa and western Illinois who want to recognize "My Favorite Teacher." We feature five outstanding educators each year.
The best part of school isn't always found in a typical classroom.
For a Galva High School senior, it's in the shop room, surrounded by scrap wood and tools.
"I have made so many projects and we've worked really hard on things together," Katie Clemons said. "And I've learned things I don't think I've ever learned before."
She's gotten a lot of help and guidance on those projects from woodworking teacher Brandon Owens.
"You're my favorite teacher!" Katie said, presenting a trophy to Mr. Owens.
Katie began taking the woodworking class three years ago when she moved to Galva. Mr. Owens took over the class three years ago too, a Galva alum who's been teaching for 12 years now.
"I had a really great woodworking teacher when I was in school, it really inspired me to be a teacher," Mr. Owens said. "My dad was really good at woodworking, hands-on kind of stuff, so I had a few other people along the way that guided me this way."
He takes a hands-on approach with his students, too, providing an extra set of hands to hold something together or showing the best way to use a new tool.
"If, 'Hey, I'm having trouble with his project, with this tool,' he'd come over and be like, 'Okay, what's the problem?'" Katie said. "He's really engaging with everything that we do."
"No day is the same, no matter what day of the year it is, because we do so many different things in here," Mr. Owens said. "It keeps me on my toes... Some of the kids are just scared to even use the tools, and then by the time they get out of here as they graduate, they're able to use the majority of the tools out here and they build a lot of great projects."
Mr. Owens also teaches driver's ed. Katie wrote to News 8, explaining that he always stays after school hours or works during his prep time to make sure students get their driving hours in.
"A lot of the time, students think about English and Science and Social Studies, and they don't always think about the hard-working like hands-on, kind of tech work that he does," she said. "I just thought that he doesn't get a lot of recognition for all the time that he puts in and all the things that he does."