WYOMING, Mich. — A truly moving assembly complete with banners, cheers and tears! It was all to surprise our latest Teacher of the Week, this time at Lee Middle School in Wyoming.
Principal Adrianne Rose told 13 ON YOUR SIDE, “We were so excited when we first heard from WZZM,” and she explained how, “We all came together and had a quick meeting of how we could pull this off.”
Meanwhile, Juan Carlos Lozano said, “Anybody who knows me knows that I like to be on time.”
So, he was feeling anxious as he made his way to the gym.
“The assembly was supposed to start at 8:50 and I got there at 9. I was like, oh we’re already late, we’re already late,” said Lozano.
He described the moment he arrived, saying, “So, when I got there and it was really quiet, I was like, wow, Peggy has a really good handle on the assembly. No one’s talking,” adding that, “The first person I saw was my wife. I was like, my wife, what are you?”
He could not believe what he was seeing.
“I thought it was a dream. I was like, what is my wife doing here in my workplace? What? And then I saw my mom and then that’s when I saw the crowd and the pictures, the banners.”
Almost feeling the need to reassure himself that the situation was real.
“I couldn’t believe it. I had to almost pinch myself to see if it was true,” said Lozano.
“I thought it was great. It was so much fun. Anytime we can get a celebration in our school is so important,” said Rose.
“I got into teaching because of my mom. My mom, she is a teacher by nature, by trade. She was a ParaPro for 20-some years and during summer she would always have us do worksheets and stuff before we could go outside. So, teaching and learning was always a part of how we grew up,” said Lozano who added that, “it was my senior, AP calculus teacher that got me into tutoring and that’s how I felt that I wanted to go into teaching.”
He now teaches seventh grade math at Lee Middle School.
“Very diverse and I feel that I fit in. I’m at home every time I come here. Love every minute of it. I hope this is my retire school,” said Lozano.
He said he’s encouraged to keep going by the little things.
“Little strides – I finally got this, wow, I got this. Or even little things like, Mr. Lozano thank you. I was able to solve this problem because of this. People coming in during lunch, ‘Hey Mr. Lozano,’ in the mornings, ‘Hey Mr. Lozano,’ and after school, ‘Hey Mr. Lozano.’ I love that and that’s why I continue to do this,” said Lozano.
One student at the assembly stood in front of the crowd to thank Lozano for helping him become a better person, and better at math.
“Teachers are so important to the lives of our youth. So, seeing one of our coworkers or staff specifically get nominated or celebrated in that way was just really special,” said Rose.
The school had arranged for Lozano’s wife, mother and brother to be there for the surprise.
“It’s nice to be recognized and it’s even better because I put a lot of my heart into this school, into my students. So, to see that was very cool,” said Lozano.
If you have someone you’d like to nominate as our next Teacher of the Week, just text the word “teacher” to 616-559-1310.
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