The students at Carroll Middle School believed it was just going to be a routine assembly this morning (Friday). That is, until they entered the gym and saw quite a few business people and television cameras set up facing the podium on the gymnasium floor. It wasn’t long before they began to get an inkling of what was really going on when WHO TV reporter, Jodi Whitworth, introduce Erin Wonsmos of IMT insurance in West Des Moines, who said their motto, “Be Worry Free with IMT,” fit right into why they were all there this morning.
Wonsmos read some of the comments from the nominations that were sent in for this instructor.
Rachel Menken, who has been a teacher for 14 years and with the Carroll Community School District for 10, is an eighth-grade English instructor and was completely stunned by the award.
As she received congratulatory hugs and handshakes from family, friends and colleagues, Menken said through the tears that this award means the world to her. It is always an honor to be nominated for an award from your peers, but this means even more, she said.
Menken added this is a memorable moment, but it is one that joins those she sees frequently in her job when students learn they can do something, when they think outside of the box and break out of their comfort zone and when bonds are created between her and her students. And those, she says, are the true rewards in her job as a teacher.
