Top teens, teachers recognized

Top students from around North Idaho were honored Wednesday night for outstanding academic achievements and community involvement, and the teachers who inspired them were recognized, too.

Two seniors from each of the region’s 16 high schools and their favorite teachers received a recognition plaque at the ninth annual North Idaho Student Teachers Achievement Recognition awards banquet.

“The number one thing schools are here for is not sports; it’s academic excellence,” said Conrad Underdahl, principal of Lakeland High School in Rathdrum. “This is just another of those things that really keeps the main thing the main thing.”

Students in the top 10 percent of their class qualify, and Underdahl said teachers and principals are encouraged to consider community service and involvement in school activities when selecting the top two students they think best represent what the school should be.

“You could easily pick more than two,” Underdahl said.

The students ran the show Wednesday, giving speeches and honoring the teachers they say helped make them the outstanding students for which they were recognized.

“Those teachers that are recognized are master teachers,” Underdahl said. “Over the years, you start to see some of the same faces.”

One of those faces belonged to Lakeland High School science teacher Trent Derrick, who was honored for the third consecutive year, this time by student Heidi Svitak.

Derrick said he’s thought about what he does as a teacher that makes him so appealing but hasn’t come up with anything.

“It’s kind of a mystery to me,” he said.

“I don’t know if it’s a technique thing. I just try to be myself and try to be authentic.”

The students recognized are the pinnacle of what a good student should be, Derrick said: motivated, hardworking and enthusiastic.

With those students, it’s often the most helpful to them to do the least and let them take charge, Derrick said.

“They’re just excellent in so many ways,” he said.

The special recognition creates a new challenge for the teachers: act as a mentor to other teachers “so that they can utilize your expertise to motivate students to do their best,” Underdahl said.