Q2, Education Foundation for Billings Public Schools, Western Security Bank, and City Brew Coffee have teamed up for “One Class at a Time.” It's a program that recognizes teachers who go above and beyond to help their students.
Meet Kristin Burckley, a kindergarten teacher who does an excellent job keeping these young minds engaged.
"Learning with their hands and creating experiences that can help them attach meaning to their learning so that it goes into long-term memory, helping them feel loved and safe every day. It's such a magical age because you're giving them the first taste of school and how to love learning and be excited about it."
Each day brings new experiences and a pure, honest innocence she truly loves.
"They will tell you the truth every time, all the time. You just get the real rawness of them as a person. They are not, you know, filtered by the world. They don't have opinions that they've heard their friends say yet. You just get the real, truest version, I feel like, of them."
She's been teaching close to 20 years, and there are so many rewarding things that she loves about her job, making it hard to pinpoint just one.
"The start of every year is so exhausting, and it's scary, but I love just knowing, wondering what the potential is for each of the little faces that are coming into my classroom. And then the end of the year is rewarding, but it's hard to let them go. Yesterday, I just had a student that's a sophomore who stopped by sporadically to say hi. So I love that too."
And it's obvious that your students love you, too, Mrs. Burckley.
That's why the Education Foundation for Billings Public Schools was honored to present her with a $500 grant, proudly sponsored by Western Security Bank. And City Brew Coffee was also on hand to give her a $150 gift card, along with a few other tokens of appreciation. Congratulations!
If you would like to nominate a deserving teacher, click here.
