LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: THE STUFF DREAMS (AND EDUCATION) ARE MADE OF

Editor:

Recently my family and I traveled, as did hundreds of others, to Columbia, Mo., to the annual state math competition for the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade levels. On this day, May 8, 1994 to be exact, something quite phenomenal took place! The participants from the Jackson-Cape area put Southeast Missouri on the map by bringing home eight state winners, including two first-place prizes! Now, before you dismiss this as being trivial because these kids are only in elementary school, I ask you to please stop and think about this for a moment. Of all the thousands of kids in all the hundreds of schools who tested at their various schools, public and private, and advanced to the regional levels and placed high enough to compete at state -- eight smiling winners came home from this little area. And the contest is tough!

This was our third year to make the trek to the state contest. The first two years, we come home after watching all the prizes go to St. Louis, Kansas City and Columbia schools. To say we were proud and excited this year would be quite an understatement.

These kids worked so hard to get there and deserve all the recognition we can give them. On behalf of all in this area who care about academic excellence let me congratulate Ryan Granger, Greg Miller, Clint Ressel, Danny Robert, Justin Thompson, Joe Walter, Michael Williams and Tian Zhang on a job well done. We certainly have reason to believe it may only get better. But this year will certainly be a hard act to follow.

There is another part of this equation that is so essential. I am referring to the teachers of these kids. The teachers, who when they saw a child with a special need, a need to be developed to his or her full potential, took it upon themselves to teach and tutor that child after school for no extra pay.

To the teachers who tutored our state winners this year, clearly our dreams would never have been made possible if not for your hard work. This is truly the stuff that education is made of and was only made possible by true dedication way beyond the call of duty.

Let me also make the point that this is not the only "extra curricular" teaching going on. It's common in the Jackson High School to have before and after school tutoring in chemistry, math and one-on-one coaching, to name a few. In fact, some of the academic tutoring is set up by coaches as they see the need.

I am also aware of a special education teacher of little children who works non-stop to meet every single need for every little child. Debbie Lusk mothers them as if they were her very own.

I am closing this column with a poem, written after the competition especially for the math tutors, Ralph Beck, Betty Myers, Martha Short, Sue Littner, Chris Ludwig and Dan Stover. Would you please take a bow for yourselves and all the teachers who make excellence a reality in our educational system.

My Tutor

My tutor, what can I say to you now,

As I stand here, ready to take my bow?

Now, as I'm being so honored today,

Knowing I surely could never repay

Those many hours you gave after school,

Teaching me every mathematical rule.

Taxing my brain every possible way,

You worked every week for no extra pay.

We travelled each year to compete at the state.

We all worked so hard to be labeled first-rate.

It was our time to shine, so I shan't fail to mention,

Southeast Missouri sure got their attention.

Dear tutor, we'd like to make one thing clear,

Without all your help, we wouldn't be here!

Sincerely

Sandy Ressel