David Heise, Hilton High School

Our News 8 Golden Apple Award winner was a star athlete and pretty good student at Hilton High School. Now David Heise is an English teacher at his alma mater. And he is still a star in the eyes of students.

I wish we could all be as lucky as Hilton High School English Teacher David Heise. "My wife says when I leave every morning have fun at school. She doesn't say have fun at work. So I think that covers it for me. It's fun for me to come in here. I never feel like I'm going to a job."

We received 15 nominations from current and former students asking us to surprise Mr. Heise with a News 8 Golden Apple Award!  David's Principal, Brian Bartalo, is impressed so many graduates took the time to write. "That means that a lot. Cause that means that as they reflect back on their experience at Hilton HS he stands out as somebody who helped them along the way. Made a difference for them and makes me really feel proud of not only him but our whole school."

Former Student Kaylin Cervini got the ball rolling, asking friends to nominate Mr. Heise for a Golden Apple Award. "I've never had a teacher where I walk out of that class everyday feeling like I have to thank him."

"I would have to thank them" says Mr. Heise. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to work with them each and every day I think. They remind me about what its like to be human and top be a kid struggling with things on a daily basis. and I struggle just as they do. So I get a lot of inspiration from them."

David Heise is a News 8 Golden Apple Award Winner. You can read all 15 letters we received nominating him below.



Dear Channel 8,

   Hello, I know that you guys have gotten in a lot of applications on Mr. Heise. And the only reason that was able to happen is because he truly is a wonderful teacher. There are a lot of a good teachers out there, but only so many can be great. Not all teachers genuinely care about there students. Not all teacher learn to truly love their students. Not all teachers leave life impacts on their students. Not all teachers tell their own past pains, just to help a student with their own. Not all teachers strive to be better themselves. Not all teachers can fill there students with the ideas of hope, faith, and possibility. But Mr. David Heise CAN! This award belongs to him.
 
Sincerely,
Kaylin Cervini


Dear Channel 8,

  Dave Heise is one of the smartest, most motivating teachers I have ever had. His overall knowledge about the world around him, not only just his subject, was inspiring. He has an ability to push his students to their limits and make them better writers and overall people. He truly cares about his students in a way that is rare nowadays. Let me put it this way. I want to be a teacher and because he was such an amazing teacher, I now go to the college he attended. Dave Heise deserves this award more than any person I know.

Sincerely,
Erin Marble


Dear Channel 8,

  I believe Mr. David Heise of Hilton High School should receive the Golden Apple Award. He is the type of teacher that goes far beyond the expectations put on him by his job. He treats his students like he would his own children. He cares about them far beyond the classroom and is always there to talk to about personal problems with them, even if they might not be one of his own students. He is widely respected throughout the school by both the students and his colleagues. When teaching his classes he is not really on any strict plan. His classes are widely open for discussion and each class is totally different with many real world scenarios and experiences thrown in to the discussion. He is not only teaching English he is teaching his student about life and is always giving valuable advice. He has also been involved in other aspects of the school like be the school's varsity golf coach. Mr. Heise has changed the lives of numerous Hilton kids and will always be remember in their heads and their hearts and this is why he should receive the Golden Apple Award.

Sincerely,
Dan Hilderbrandt


Dear Channel 8,

  Students in high school who are seniors most of the time just want minimal amounts of work and do not really care. They will get the typical "senioritis" which means students get lazy and slack off. Mr. Heise, he made sure I did not fall into that trap. At the beginning of my senior year, I will admit that I could not believe he was giving us this much work. I came into my senior year thinking this was supposed to be my fun year. He made sure I was not bored......ever. However, looking back on my senior year, I could not of asked for a better experience in my English class. Mr. Heise made it bigger than a class. He made it about life. We had to do a senior project where we had to choose something we were interested in. It consisted of shadowing people in that field, writing a paper, and doing a presentation. This experience was one of the best experiences in my life at this point. I studied chemistry for my project and really got to see chemists at work and see what pharmacists actually do. I can not thank him enough for all this work he gave us because in the end i know it will pay off. He helped me though my college experience since I was always scared of what was head of me. This is why Mr. Heise truly deserves the Golden Apple Award.

Sincerely,
Mark Piazza


Dear Channel 8,

  Mr. Heise is a dedicated teacher who takes his subject seriously and encourages and supports his students. Sincerely, Evan Peacock Dear Channel 8, Mr. David Heise really is a great person who gives his students amazing insight and shows the different side every time. He's so knowledgeable and is able to help his students in so many ways as a friend and as an authoritative figure he's a man who's respected among the students within our school and he truly is an amazing person.

Sincerely,
Patricia Freeman


Dear Channel 8,

  I was in Mr. Heise's AP English class my senior year of high school. He made me want to come to that 1st period class by making English interesting with funny anecdotes and intriguing insights to what we were reading. He encouraged me to become a better writer and a deeper thinker. As a junior a really wanted to become a doctor but because of taking Mr. Heise's class I am now majoring in English at SUNY Albany and am considering being a teacher. By taking Mr. Heise's AP English class I became more than prepared for college. His discussion style class taught me to speak up in a crowd and to think beyond the words written on a page.

Sincerely,
Rebecca Smarcz


Dear Channel 8,

  David Heise is an amazing teacher, who truly cares about all of his students no matter how the student gets with him. He is amazing. I loved having him as a teacher, he helped me out a lot and I know I can always depend on him.

Sincerely,
Amara Little


Dear Channel 8,

  Mr. Heise was my inspiration to want to graduate. I have never had a teacher believe in me to a point where I had started believing in myself.

Sincerely,
Kayla O'Keefe


Dear Channel 8,

  Yes Mr. Heise is a teacher, but yet he is also a great mentor. For students he is a person to look up to, a person that I look up to. Mr. Heise has an awesome heart, and truly does care about each and everyone of his students. Some people don't have adults in their lives who care so much... but when a student walks into that class, suddenly we know that there is someone who cares about what is for us now, and what their is to come even after we graduate. There is no better candidate for this award.

Sincerely,
Tabby Leicht


Dear Channel 8,

  Hello. I am Nathaniel Harris. I am only a junior at Hilton, but I know that next year I will be taking English 12 just so that I can have Mr. Heise as a teacher. I know Kaylin Cervini, and I hear her quote him all the time. She has used things he has taught her, to help me through some of the things i have dealt with in life. That is what makes David Heise such a great teacher. I have not yet even had him as a teacher, and his lessons are still helping me. It isn't every day that we see teachers who have their work passed from student to student to student. I have younger siblings, and friends, who I now quote the words of David Heise to... and who knows where they will use them. Now that is one great teacher. The Golden Apple Award has "David Heise" written all over it.

Sincerely,
Nate Harris


Dear Channel 8,

  Mr. Heise is an awesome teacher. He deserves this award. Kids go into his class thinking the world revolves around them, and they leave as more selfless people. Mr. Heise says "I believe maturity is a scale of how self-less one is, the more self-less the more mature". He teaches us how to live our lives to the fullest, i have never gotten the chance to experience a class like that until I had Mr. Heise last year. Mr Heise views all his new students each year, and he looks at all the ways he can help each individual, we walk out of that class at the end of the year completely new people. I am shocked he hasn't already gotten this award.

Sincerely,
John Otera 

 
Dear Channel 8,

  The Heise man is a great teacher. I had the man in 08, and I still could never forget the dude. Heise is the only teacher I have ever had that made it possible to be sitting through an hour of lecturing, and to not be bored. Everything the man said was interesting. There is no teacher out their besides Heise that could make the class fun while still getting a clear point across. You gotta give the man this award.

Sincerely,
Kenny Henry


Dear Channel 8,

  Mr. Heise is an amazing teacher. I had him last year. If it were not for Mr. Heise, I would never have realized that I want to be a chef. Mr. Heise made us do a project that involved us picking some sort of activity and getting good at it. I chose cooking, and I really didn't want to do it... But because of his insistence, I am going to MCC to be a cook. Mr. Heise teaches us how to love our lives, and to care for them. He is a great, great man.

Sincerely,
Zach Peake


Dear Channel 8,

  I graduated 2 years ago, and I am still using the lessons Mr. Heise has taught me. He is a one of a kind teacher... and I doubt that anyone deserves this award more than he does. He changes our lives.

Sincerely,
Jackie Geraci