BARRHEAD – Bruce Tyrrell, a Barrhead Composite High School teacher, is being recognized with an award in connection with World Teachers' Day. Tyrrell captured the prize as a result of a nomination video from former student Sheldon King, who is also now a teacher himself.
“I don't really know what to think, quite honestly," Tyrrell said. "It was very sweet.”
“Sheldon had actually sent me a Facebook message saying he'd made the video, and I said, 'Wow, that's really neat, thank you very much.'”
King said in his video Tyrell encouraged his students to think outside the box and to explore their own artistic styles, according to the ATA website.
There were close to 100 nominations to the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA), with three winners selected through a random draw.
When Tyrrell was contacted in November by the ATA to tell him he had been selected, at first he thought it was a prank. However, it was actually the president of the Teacher’s Association calling Tyrrell to tell him what he had won.
Tyrrell's prize was a $3,000 WestJet gift card. He and his family are going to Hawaii at Christmas, and the gift card helped with the cost of the trip.
“My older son David is working really hard in in computer science at the University of Alberta,” Tyrrell said.
“We were talking about, 'Wouldn't it be nice to be able to give him a break, take him somewhere warm,' and then this happened."
