In a dizzying day of speeches and ceremonies, Andrea Peterson, the nation’s teacher of the year from Granite Falls, had a particularly poignant moment with President Bush in the Oval Office on Thursday.
The elementary school music teacher was accompanied by her family, including her 1-month-old daughter, Faith, and her father, Victor Rahn, who was a minister and a teacher for 34 years.
The teacher and president discussed how their fathers influenced their lives.
“He looked down at my baby and said, ‘The beautiful thing is now you have the opportunity to do the same for her,’ ” Peterson said.
Later, Peterson accompanied Bush and First Lady Laura Bush to the Rose Garden where the president recognized her as the National Teacher of the Year.
Bush praised the Monte Cristo Elementary School teacher for building an impressive district music program “almost from scratch,” describing how she raised money for instruments, organized an after-school choir and helped obtain computer programs that allow students to compose their own music.
The president related how Peterson has taken novels her students read in their classes and turned them into musical productions, how she’s used musical notes to explain fractions and how she’s reached students through music who struggle in the traditional classroom setting.
“Andrea has done some, a lot of amazing work as a music teacher at Monte Cristo Elementary School in Granite Falls, Washington,” Bush said.
As national teacher of the year, Peterson will be released from her classroom duties for a year to travel the country presenting the teaching profession. In her speech, Peterson pledged to use her platform to urge parents and communities to become more involved in their schools.
“In order to see America’s children achieve, we need to hear from the whole community,” she said.
“We all need to work together so that no child, no school, no teacher, and no nation, is left behind.”
Peterson, who has performed countless times as a mezzo-soprano and saxophonist, acknowledged that she had a little stage fright before the Rose Garden ceremony.
It didn’t last long, though, because the president and first lady “have a way of putting people at ease,” she said.
It also helped that she had family, friends and school district colleagues on hand to remind her about how she ended up at center stage of a White House ceremony.
“It really points to the fact that no one person achieves anything by themselves,” she said. “There are all these people supporting me and all sorts of people have had an impact on my teaching. We carry all those people into the classroom with us every day.”
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
Celebration planned for teacher
A celebration to honor Monte Cristo Elementary School music teacher Andrea Peterson as the national teacher of the year is set for 9 to 10:30 a.m. May 10 in the Granite Falls High School gym, 405 N. Alder Ave.
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