Katie Tribula, Victor Primary School

Few things mean more to a teacher than when a former student calls to say thanks. We did more than that for this week's News 8 Golden Apple Award winner. She's Katie Tribula from Victor Primary School.

Katie Tribula spends her days surrounded by smiles. Her K-1 Multi-Age classroom at Victor Primary School is a happy place. "Well I think it's important to make good connections with your students. It's more than just being a teacher, it's caring about them."

Miss Tribula made a connection several years ago with two students who asked us to say thank you. Abbie Guidarelli and Erin Whipple are now in sixth grade. Abbie says "She kind of inspired me to move on in life and try hard in school."

"When we heard about the Golden Apple Award we realized she was just perfect for it" says Erin. "Because she had all the traits everyone else would talk about in a teacher that they would love to have for a teacher."

Erin and Abbie returned to their old school to help us with our surprise. Principal Danny Dehm says Katie Tribula is deserving of the ultimate compliment for a teacher, being remembered fondly by a former student. "We know that our mark will be felt far into the future and we may or we may never know what that mark is that they left on a child. And this is really a special event for Katie in that here's an example for at least two children where she will know the mark that she left."

Katie Tribula is a News 8 Golden Apple Award winner. You can read Abby and Erin's letter nominating her below.



Dear Channel 8,

   We would like to nominate Miss Tribula from the Victor Primary School for the Golden Apple Award. She was our teacher for first and second grade. She is perfect to teach kids of this age group! We hope that during this letter you will realize how great of a teacher she is.
   One of Miss Tribula's best qualities is that she treats her students like good friends and talks to us like friends instead of students. She always called our class by "friends" or "my friends". We knew she was in charge of the class but she made us feel comfortable because she treated us this way. She was not like any other teacher. She always talked about the positive and brought out the best qualities in all of us.
   She taught us to respect and get along with each other. She made sure everyone understood our class work and spent extra time with any of us if needed. To make sure we understood, she gave us each a red and a green circle to put on our desks. If we understood, the green circle would be the one showing but if we needed some help, we would put out the red circle. This made it easy to tell her we needed help without disrupting the class.
   She taught us responsibility by giving us special jobs to do around the classroom. At the end of our two years with her, she held a graduation ceremony for us and gave us special certificates with a good quality about us on each one. That really made us proud of our progress over two years.
   She taught us so many of the great qualities that are needed every year in school and in life and she was an example of those qualities herself.

Sincerely,
Abbie Guidarelli & Erin Whipple