Several faculty and staff members received “of the year” awards recently. Lisa Reitz is  Support Staff member of the year, Ana Alvarez is Teacher of the year, and Mitch Whitcomb is Plant Operator of the year.

       According to Mitch, he was nominated for the award by some of the teachers. “I was told that some teachers nominated me and I guess everybody got together and voted in the county. I actually did not even know I had won anything, or even been nominated until last week when one of the kids here came up and congratulated me after seeing I had won the award on the marquee (electronic message board).”

      Mitch has been working at Osceola for five years and decided to be a Plant Operator after he retired and moved down from up north.

     Mitch was really happy and grateful to receive the award. “You know, I really like my job. I mean, cleaning comes with the job, obviously, but it’s really great to be recognized for hard work every once in a while.”

   Mitch also made sure to mention his favorite part of the job is the students. “Like I said, cleaning is obviously a given when it comes to my job. But my favorite part of my job is really getting to talk and listen the kids – being able to talk and communicate to the students is just great. Especially since most people are here for four or more years, so getting to know them is awesome. A lot of the kids here have talents and special skills. I could have retired, but I would rather be here getting to know the kids.’’

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Justine Zitman