Although it was my 5th year at Newark Charter, I was still nervous on the first day of 8th grade. We didn’t get our schedules until we got to school. I couldn’t wait to see what classes my friends and I had, when something caught my eye. My first class on my first day of 8th grade was science with Mr. Hutchins. If you didn’t know who Ken Hutchins was then you obviously didn’t go to Charter. Everyone knew him, but it wasn’t because he didn’t give any homework or because he was the easiest and the fun teacher; it was actually the complete opposite. Ever since 5th grade when you barely knew the last names of your best friends, there was one last name every 5th grader knew, and it was Hutchins. I am nominating Ken Hutchins for Educator of the Year because this man is someone who even a student with the worst memory will never forget.

We go to school every day because, quite honestly, we don’t have a choice. A lot of teens think they can just go and sleep and barely pass, but as long as they are there that is all that matters. Well, technically this is true, but my perspective of school is much different. Having the famous Mr. Hutchins every day for 45 minutes was the highlight of my day and kept me excited to go to school every day. He is not only a teacher but a role model, and he cares about your interactions with the real world. He tells it how it is; he doesn’t sugar coat anything, and that is what I liked most about him. I think I saw this man smile maybe once a month, but it was that one millisecond of a smile that made my day.
His famous line was “Think for yourself”. I’m pretty sure I heard this more than two times a class, and he really did make you think for yourself every second of every minute of every day. Every time you raised your hand, you didn’t expect a response. It wasn’t because he thought it was a dumb question or because he didn’t care; it was more than that. In the real world everything isn’t going to be handed to you; you have to work for it and think for yourself. No matter what the question was, he made you think, and eventually you would figure it out. He made you realize that you don’t need someone to hold your hand day and night. If you thought not raising your hand in his class would be the easy way out, you were wrong. He always caught you off guard and made you think. No question was left unanswered.
Every teacher has a guide of what needs to be taught throughout the year in order for you to go on to the next grade. Teachers write their plans to follow these guidelines, and then they are all set. Mr. Hutchins taught more than what he had to teach. We started off each class with about five questions to refresh our memories of what we learned the class before or just to get us to think. There would always be a question that would make us think and apply ourselves. Although taking five pages of notes a day hurt our hands, they were really helpful. Mr. Hutchins also used videos and objects to explain things, and he didn’t move on until everyone understood. He prepared us so well for every quiz and every test, and it showed. He didn’t try to trick us on tests and quizzes. He put the information that we needed to know and only looked for one word to answer the question. It was simple.
There is so much more I could say about Mr. Hutchins because he is such a memorable teacher. I remember him better than I remember what I had for dinner last night. I have never had a teacher who was as knowledgeable, memorable, funny, understanding, smart, and serious as Mr. Hutchins. If you are known by a little nose-picking 5th grader, then you know you must be special. I learned not to judge a book by its cover and not to listen to the 8th graders. There is more to a person than the non-existent smile on his/her face or an unhappy look. The 8th graders make him seem like a child-hating, non-sociable teacher, but he isn’t at all. I think Mr. Hutchins deserves Educator of the Year because there is no teacher who could ever compare to this man. Believe me; he is one of a kind.