Teacher with reach: Amity’s Stearns presented $50,000 prize for career education, tech guidance
Amity High School students lined up Tuesday to greet Career-Technical Education teacher John Stearns with a little of the caring he’s been showing to them over the years.
They applauded and cheered for the surprised teacher as he entered the CTE center, where he received Harbor Freight’s Tools for Schools program award.
Stearns is one of 25 winning teachers across the nation honored this year. They were chosen from more than 900 who were nominated.
Harbor Freight representatives, including Manager Edgar Rios and several employees from the McMinnville store, presented Stearns with a giant cardboard check for $50,000 — $15,000 for himself and $35,000 for Amity High’s CTE programs.
Stearns also received a trophy fit for a construction teacher — a large rolling tool chest in Amity Warriors blue. A plaque with his name on it is affixed to one of the numerous drawers.
After posing for pictures with the tool chest, Stearns said the award will help him make sure his students have industry-standard tools and equipment with which to learn. “I’ve been slowly buying those; this will speed up the process,” he said.
In the long-term, he said, the award will help him with the most important thing: “Making more connections for my students,” he said.
The teacher, who has been with Amity schools for 16 years, was floored by the attention Tuesday morning.
He wiped tears from his eyes after high-fiving students, who formed a gauntlet, and shaking hands with some of his fellow teachers, including shop teacher Savannah Stanton, along with administrators, school board members and visiting officials, including State Rep. Lucetta Elmer and county commissioners Lindsey Berschauer and Kit Johnston.
“Sorry I’m late,” he joked, noting that they’d had time to prepare before Superintendent Jeff Clark let him enter the room.
“Never in my wildest dreams,” he said, shaking his head about the honor.
But students, Amity staff and board members and his grown children all agreed that the award was just the kind of honor they’d dreamed of for Stearns. “No one is more deserving,” several said, including Principal Ryan Sticka.
“He’s an amazing individual,” Sticka said. “This is great for him and for the school.”
Jill Whitehead, who teaches physical education, health and leadership, agreed Stearns was the right choice. “He has a heart for the children,” she said. “He would do anything for one of these kids. These kids know he loves them.”
That’s right, said Nick Hermens, a senior. “Stearns is a very good guy. He’s passionate about teaching, and he takes the time and effort to learn his subjects,” Hermens said. “He’s always willing to help us.”
Daughter Riley Stearns, a college junior who took her father’s classes at AHS, called the award “so well deserved.”
“Dad is the hardest worker and the best person I know,” she said.
She and two of her brothers, twins Bryan and Bryce, and their mother, Katie, attended the surprise event. Her two other brothers, twins Deryk and Dylan, congratulated their father via Facetime.
About half of Amity High’s student body take CTE classes, Stearns said. This term, he teaches about 80 students a day in the hands-on courses.
He loves it when he sees students not only get the material, but gain confidence. Recently, he said, a student was worried about being able to do the math needed to scale up a commercial floor plan. When she solved the problems, she ran to him, excited and proud.
Principal Sticka said Stearns is an asset to Amity High, as is the CTE program itself.
“It’s real life, real stuff students can do right out of high school,” he said.
A previous winner, Bill Culver, who is retired from Evergreen High School in Vancouver, Washington, said the Harbor Freight award is life-changing for both the recipient and his or her school.
In Culver’s case, the money went into a perpetual fund that is used to buy equipment and materials for his school’s CTE program. And he said the winner also benefits by becoming part of a nationwide group of other top trades teachers who meet to share and get together at Harbor Freight’s annual summer educational conference.
CTE is a valuable program for high schools, he said. It teaches students to contribute to their community and to their workplace by showing up, being on time, being dependable, treating people right, working safely and “demonstrating practical, hands-on skills to be a successful worker.”
Amity’s CTE program — which includes metals, woods/construction career skills and other training — “obviously is a model program,” Culver said; otherwise, Stearns wouldn’t have been chosen.
Addressing the AHS students, he said, “you have an amazing opportunity to be taught by someone who cares for you and wants the best for you.”
Students said they know that already.
“Stearns is amazing,” said Delanie Atkeson, a sophomore. “He’s a good teacher; he’s strict when he needs to be; he makes sure we are safe.”
She said she likes the projects they work on in class. It’s both fun and a good learning experience, she said; it will help her gain skills for going on to trade school to become an electrician.
A junior, Kaylee Robinson, said she has been in Stearns’ classes all through high school. She has learned many valuable things, including electrical, plumbing and digital skills.
Shayla Cross, another junior, said she also values how Stearns led students in the process of becoming OSHAA certified, so they understand safety. She plans to go into the trades, first working in construction or for a city, then going to school to learn piercing and tattooing.
“Stearns really cares about his students and their future,” Cross said.
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