BILLINGS — Q2, Education Foundation for Billings Public School, 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.
This week, we celebrate Nicholas Ottoy, a health enhancement and physical education teacher with 18 years of experience, so he understands how important it is to keep his kids motivated and having fun.
"For lifelong learning, if they're not having fun in here and they're not enjoying themselves, they're not going to want to come," said Mr. Ottoy. "Just motivating them at this young level to get excited and move. Yeah, I just huge. For me growing up, too. As a kid, I just loved to move and exercise, and it's changed in our generation, and I just really want that to be a thing that's important to these kids."
He's right; things have changed. It's harder than ever to keep these kids from staring at a screen, but he's doing what he can to change that, showing them just how passionate he is about them staying active.
"Talking about that like in our conversations in health, just telling them that, hey, you know, we need to be moving, you need to be bike riding. Just, what are you guys doing this weekend? What are you doing at night? Just, I guess, showing passion for it, getting them excited. A lot of these kids here probably do sports, so they're already active outside of school. But I guess just hopefully they see it in my eyes and how excited I am about it."
And his ultimate goal for his students?
"For them to play a sport, hopefully like something in middle school that they could specialize in, and if they don't like that, some sort of club activity. And then just to like bike ride, walk, jog, anything they can do at home just to exercise, get their heart rate up, and get fit. And then kind of watching them in the future years as they go into athletics. I think we'll have quite a few here that do that, but it should be fun to see."
A teacher on a mission to get his students up and moving, and he's doing a great job. For that, the Education Foundation for Billings Public Schools was honored to present Mr. Ottoy with a $500 grant, proudly sponsored by Western Security Bank, and City Brew Coffee also surprised him with a $150 gift card. Congratulations!
If you would like to make a nomination, click here. We could surprise a deserving teacher at your school next.
