Michigan —Sietie Heslop, Great Lakes Adventist Academy (GLAA) math teacher, is one of the recipients of the 2004 Excellence in Teaching awards. This award was created by the Alumni Awards Foundation in partnership with the North American Division to thank and recognize secondary teachers who have dedicated their lives to excellence in Adventist education.

Every year, teachers from Adventist schools across the country are nominated for the award. Only 15 were chosen to travel to Arizona for the Alumni Awards Foundation’s annual convention. During a formal Friday-evening program on Feb. 27, Gerald Kovalski, North American Division vice president for education, presented the award and a cash prize to Heslop.

Although this was a great honor, Heslop said that being nominated by the people who know her at GLAA was the greatest honor, even greater than being one of the final recipients chosen. Raymond Davis, GLAA principal, said, “Mrs. Heslop’s teaching and interaction indicates that everything she does is designed to help teenagers become all they can be in Christ.”

During the nomination process, Heslop was asked to write a 750-word essay, describing why she became a teacher. What she wrote came from the heart. “Teaching is in my blood,” she said, as she is a third-generation teacher. Her students would quickly agree.

Teaching seems to come naturally to her, but she also becomes involved in her students’ lives. Each class begins with a prayer request time, followed by prayer. This is an important bonding time when the students realize how much she really cares about them. “I tell my students regularly, ‘I don’t just teach math, I teach life,’” said Heslop, who has been teaching math at GLAA since 1985. But this comes with a cost. “I cry on every graduation day because each student that leaves takes a part of my heart.”

Arlene Leavitt, Great Lakes Adventist Academy assistant development director