Yesterday I had the opportunity to travel up to Salt Lake City and meet with our governor, Gary Herbert. It was an awesome experience and I felt very privileged to have this chance to meet with him and talk about education!
When I first arrived, I got to meet with Mike Mower (Deputy for Community Outreach) and Marty Carpenter (Deputy for Communications). They both had some questions for me. I explained a little about our blog and how we try to share our teaching ideas and tips with readers from all over the world. I emphasized how amazing it is to collaborate with teachers from different parts of the country, and we discussed a little bit about the future of education in Utah.
Mike and I had some fun posing with Abe Lincoln while we waited for the governor.
I even got to sit in the governor's desk! I loved it!! Maybe I should think about running for office someday... haha!
I thought this was pretty cool. The official Obama family Christmas card.
When Governor Herbert entered the room, we shook hands, smiled for some pictures, and then he started asking me some questions about the blog. He seemed very interested to hear about the world of teacher blogging and had some very encouraging words for teachers.
I prepared a few documents to share with him containing some examples of a few of our most popular blog posts, some stats from our Facebook page, and information about how teacher bloggers are impacting the world of education. He was very interested to hear how teachers from all over are sharing ideas and resources!
Before it was time to go, I had an important question for him. I asked him what advice he had for teachers. He said,
"Number one.
Know that you are appreciated.
Number 2. Know that what you do every day in your classrooms has a significantly great influence on each of your students."
Great words for our Utah governor. I hope you all will follow his advice and know how important you are and know that every day you are changing lives and making a difference. Thank you, Governor, for recognizing us and appreciating our work as educators!!
It was a great day at the capitol and I am very grateful that I was able to have this experience!
P.S. Rachelle was very sad to miss out on this trip. She couldn't sneak away from her classroom, but she was there in spirit. :)
