Going above and beyond: Bureau Valley alum Ben Erickson awarded for teaching achievements

Ben Erickson, a 2002 Bureau Valley graduate who went on to pursue a teaching career, was recently honored for his service to students, colleagues and the DeKalb community where he teaches fourth grade.

Erickson, who is in his third year teaching at Lincoln Elementary School in DeKalb, was named the 2021 recipient of the Wirtz Award for Excellence in Education and was surprised on March 30 with the news during a teacher luncheon.

The Wirtz Award is a distinguished honor intended to encourage those high standards of innovation achievement that bring quality to a public school system and vitality to a community. It is made available annually to recognize the service of outstanding individuals, currently employed by DeKalb School District 428, who raise people’s sights or who promote a program or organization that lifts a student’s sense of human values and purpose.

Selection of the Wirtz Award was made from educators nominated and recommended by current District 428 staff and was based on the nominee’s ability to positively influence, motivate and inspire students.

Nomination letters from parents, students, teachers and people in the community are sent in along with nominations. During the selection process, only one teacher is awarded each year.

Erickson said while it was an honor being selected as this year’s award recipient, it was reading all the letters from his colleagues, parents and students that really meant the most to him and clearly illustrated that what he is doing is making a difference in the lives of his students and community.

Erickson said teachers, especially those who teach the younger grades, have a chance to make an impact on students’ lives.

“If I can be a difference-maker while they’re still young that can directly impact a lot of things for the rest of their life,” he said. “To me it’s a privilege to serve students this way and create a fun environment for them and create this kind of influential relationship in their lives.”

Erickson added that while it’s hard work, being an educator is a very rewarding experience for him.

The Wirtz Award isn’t the only recognition Erickson has received this past year. He, along with fourth-grade teaching teammate Katie Slou, received a $5,040 grant to cover the cost of a popular writing program known as Night Zookeeper for the K-5 students in their school district. Erickson said this was a “huge win” for both teachers and students. He said having this program for students was so important to him that he was paying for it out of his own pocket for his classroom before the grant was awarded.

Erickson also was recently awarded by the Target Distribution Center in DeKalb which gave gift cards and supplies to teachers nominated by peers who go above and beyond to bring fun into the classroom. Erickson was nominated based on parody videos he made for students during the pandemic when they were in the throes of remote learning.

With the stress of the pandemic and all the changes that his students and families endured, Erickson said he wanted to find a way to bring excitement to those tough days. After some brainstorming, he got the idea to tell his class he had a rock star brother, which was really just him in a wig, who sung parody songs about different things happening in the school district. Erickson said he did it to get students excited about logging on for class each morning. He said the videos were a hit among students, they brought many smiles and a lot of laughs, and students still stop him in the hallways to say they watched his videos and really enjoyed them.