St. Joseph School

   As part of the national "Teacher Appreciation Week" observance May 7-13 St. Joseph School in Conway presented its Teachers of the Year "Golden Apple Awards" May 10 to the teachers chosen by their peers from the elementary, middle, and high school campuses. First grade teacher Hannah Yrle, middle school physical education teacher Brent Bruich, and high science teacher and boys basketball coach Chandler Stanek received these honors and were simultaneously recognized as the school's recipients of the Conway Noon Lions Club's "Educators of the Year" awards.
   The National Education Association (NEA), which spearheads the weeklong event, describes it as a time for "honoring teachers and recognizing the lasting contributions they make in our lives."
   The origins of Teacher Appreciation Week are a little uncertain. Surprisingly, it was an Arkansas teacher named Mattye White Woodridge who, in 1944, first wrote to politicians and educational professionals about establishing a day to appreciate teachers. It took nearly a decade, but the idea was finally introduced to Congress by former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1953.
There was a National Teacher Day for years afterward, but it shifted to the first full week in May in 1985.