English teacher named Novi Community School District’s Educator of the Year

NOVI — Peggy Bassett, who has taught English in the Novi Community School District since 1992, was named the Novi Community School District Educator of the Year while her students were attending a senior-themed presentation by Awkward Pause…, a Novi High School improvisational theater group, on Feb. 26.

Bassett was shocked when Novi High School Principal Nicole Carter interrupted the show and called her to the stage. That’s when she realized that the swarm of media crews that had filed into the classroom were there for her and not the theatrical performance.

“Peggy Bassett is the epitome of a master teacher,” Carter told the Novi Note. “She knows how to reach and teach all students. Relationships are at the core of every single thing she does. She has this uncanny ability to pique someone’s curiosity around the concept of reading and writing. To know her is to love her. She is an extraordinary educator.”

Bassett said she knew her odds were pretty good this year, but never thought that she would actually win it.

“I said I’ve got pretty good odds here. I think I told (Superintendent) Mr. (Ben) Mainka that ‘I usually play 50/50 because the odds are better, but now it’s for the car. I’m 1 in 4,’” recalled Bassett. “I’m like, fingers crossed.”

Still, she said she was “surprised, completely and wholly surprised.”

“Oh, my gosh! Oh, my God,” Basset exclaimed as she took the stage. Once on stage, Sue Collins-Schroeder, executive director of the Novi Educational Foundation, declared that Bassett was the winner of the foundation’s annual educator of the year award for the entire school district. The Novi Educational Foundation selects the overall winner from the teachers the district chose as Educators of the Year from the various grade levels, as well as the ancillary staff person of the year.

Collins-Schroeder said that Bassett was selected because she treats her students as individual people and caters their education to each of their needs. Collins-Schroeder said teaching is about more than making sure students learn the material.

“It’s being involved with the other staff members and collaborating, but first and foremost, it’s about your students, and you look at them as a whole person, not just as someone who is taking a test and getting a score and putting it in your gradebook,” Collins-Schroeder said. “We appreciate that you look at each individual student as their own unique self and encourage them.”

Feldman Automotive provides the Educator of the Year with a two-year lease on a vehicle.

“I get a car! I get a car!” Bassett exclaimed, interrupting Collins-Schroeder excitedly, referring to the annual prize of a two-year lease on a new vehicle.

The prize has been given by Feldman Automotive Group, whose Novi location was recently named the Chevrolet Dealer of the Year for the sixth consecutive year.

“When you see the way the kids react to their teacher, I think that says it all. It shows that she really is deserving of this,” said Marla Feldman, vice president of Feldman Automotive Group. “I think having teachers that can make that kind of an impact really makes a difference, and it’s just nice to give back.”

Feldman said they chose to give Bassett a two-year lease on a 2025  Chevrolet Equinox, because it is a really popular car right now.

“It’s a great car in the snow and on these roads it is very safe,” Feldman said.

Bassett was nominated for the award by Lauren Nizol, a former student turned Novi High School English teacher. Nizol said it was an honor to be one of several people to nominate Bassett for the award. She said that when she was a student at NHS, Bassett was known as “Aunt Peggy,” to her forensic and debate team students.

“She was just always so warm, nurturing and supportive, and always, I think, kept us from taking ourselves too seriously,” Nizol said. “She just always had such a heart, too. So I got to know that and see that when I became a teacher, and she was just always so accepting of some of the most challenging students, and we’ve had a few that we’ve cheered on together. She really, I think, has a heart for all kids.”

Nizol said Bassett helped her professionally, too.

“She was a great mentor to me as a teacher,” Nizol said. “ So as a teacher, I had great influences that led me into this profession. Having someone like Peggy as my teacher, I know that was forming me as a teacher, too.”

Bassett said the feeling of being named NCSD Educator of the Year was “amazing,” but the best part of it is the kids.

She said that she believes she stands out because she cares about her students and gets to know them. She said she pays attention to things that may seem insignificant overall, like when a student gets a hair cut, and attends students’ after-school events.

“Little things matter. They’re big things, you know?” Bassett said.

She said the biggest and most important thing she wants her students and people to learn to do is “just be kind to each other, listen to each other and learn from each other.”