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Roseville Middle School sixth grader Ethan Ladah shares a moment with his former Dort media center teacher Caitlin Wesley Jan. 24. In his “Be The Reason” letter, Ladah let Wesley know she was his favorite media teacher while at Dort.
Photo by Donna Dalziel
ROSEVILLE — Last year, students and staff at Roseville Middle School made national news when teacher Stasi Earl started a program called “Be The Reason.”
A group of teachers and support staff wrote letters to students to let them know how much they inspire them every day. The teachers — some of them emotional — read their notes to the students, which was filmed and aired March 5, 2023, on “NBC Nightly News.”
The letter campaign was so popular that Earl brought it back this year. But instead of teachers writing letters, Earl coordinated efforts to have former Dort Elementary School students — now sixth graders at Roseville Middle School — write heartfelt notes to their former Dort teachers.
“I took all the sixth grade students and showed them a staff list,” Earl said.
From there, the students chose a teacher to acknowledge.
On Jan. 24, “NBC Nightly News” staff set up video equipment in the Dort media center to record the students sharing kind words with their past teachers. The educators had no idea ahead of time and were surprised when they walked into the media center and saw their former students and the television crew. Each staff member received the card the student wrote, plus a red rose.
Educators Katerina Manikas and Meghan Fochtman, of the district’s deaf/hard of hearing program, and speech language pathologist Emily DiNardo were all honored by Aysha Mahmoud.
“Thank you for being nice to me,” Mahmoud told Manikas. “You cared about me. You taught me. We had fun. Thank you for everything.”
Fochtman teared up when she met with Mahmoud.
“It means so much,” Fochtman said. “I really appreciate it. It’s so sweet. Thank you.”
When Caitlin Wesley heard from student Ethan Ladah, she was speechless — especially when he told her she was his favorite media center teacher.
“I’m glad you’re here. I loved having you. I appreciate you,” Wesley said. “I loved watching you grow. We go through this teaching career and we don’t always know if we’re doing things the right way. To have him come back here, I know I’m doing the right thing.”
“She was always nice to me,” Ladah told the NBC news staff. “Every time she said the class was in chaos, she would be patient with me.”
Student MaKayla Wolsey thanked Dort cook Diane Thompson for two things: “making us food” and being “nice to everyone.”
“It’s nice to see you,” Thompson told Wolsey. “Thank you so much.”
“Be The Reason” gave Dort physical education teacher Kurt Wilcyznski and former student Colton Gibbons the chance to catch up. Gibbons said he “always had fun” in Wilcyznski’s class.
“I picked him. I feel like he understands students,” Gibbons said. “He was the calmest gym teacher.”
Wilcyznski said he and Gibbons were able to relate through sports. When chatting for a few minutes in front of the news crew, Gibbons told his former teacher that math was his favorite subject at Roseville Middle School.
“I’m hearing a lot of stuff about football and the awards you’re getting,” Wilcyznski said. “Even when your team lost or didn’t do well, you still handled everything well.”
Wilcyznski appreciated the letter campaign.
“This is awesome. When you have something like this, it’s an added bonus. It’s priceless,” he said. “You know you chose the right path.”
At press time, a date for when the “NBC Nightly News” segment would air had not yet been determined.
