Ponderosa Elementary baker named Champion
Ramona Hansen has worked as a baker for 29 years, 26 of them at Ponderosa Elementary School. In that time, she’s baked 4,564,000 cookies and 15,280 loaves of bread, school officials calculate. She’s served all sorts of kids and experienced just about everything a school food services worker could experience, but she’d never been honored as a champion.
That changed Oct. 2.
Hansen was honored as Numerica Credit Union’s School Champion of the Month during an all-school surprise assembly in the Ponderosa Elementary gymnasium that day.
Nominated by 9-year-old Ponderosa student Madeline Baker, Hansen said the award came as a total surprise.
When she first went to the gymnasium for the assembly with the rest of the food service staff and heard a Numerica representative giving the hundreds of kids that sat in the bleachers clues about who the School Champion of the Month might be, Hansen said she thought they were talking about her boss. She realized it was her when the woman said the winner has been a baker for 29 years.
“That was kind of a giveaway,” Hansen said as her twin sons and her two granddaughters, 8-year-old Cassie and 3-year-old Macey, looked on. Cassie and Macey presented their grandmother with flowers after she accepted the award.
“She’s good at keeping a secret,” Hansen said of Madeline as she put her arm around the girl. Madeline knew Hansen had won the award for about a week but kept it a secret so that she’d be surprised at the assembly.
Madeline’s mom, Kathy Baker, is the principal at Ponderosa, so Madeline goes to school early with her mother each morning. She helps in the kitchen “just to kill some time,” she said.
It was there that she met Hansen and decided to nominate her for Numerica’s monthly award.
“I’ll accidentally spill something really sticky or important, and she’ll just help me clean up and move on instead of getting mad or yelling,” Madeline wrote in the nomination essay she submitted. “Another nice thing is that if a child spills their lunch, they can get another one for free, and Ramona won’t get mad about the spill.”
“She’s a big help. …We enjoy her, too,” Hansen said of Madeline as she blinked back tears.
Madeline received $25 for writing the winning essay, along with two passes to Silverwood Theme Park. She’ll also be entered into a drawing for a free iPod. Hansen received a $45 gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse, a gift bag, a recognition plaque, and two passes to Silverwood Theme Park. Ponderosa Elementary will receive $100, to be used how Hansen sees fit.
“There’s probably some things in the kitchen we could use,” she said, adding that she’ll consult with her co-workers about where they think the money should go.
The School Champion of the Month is chosen every month through May. Students can nominate their favorite employee from any North Idaho school. Nominations consist of a written essay explaining why the employee deserves recognition. Forms are available at any school office or online at www.numericacu.com.
Counselor of the Year
Garwood Elementary School counselor Susan Baragia is one of two counselors recognized as Counselor of the Year by the Idaho School Counselors Association.
A counselor at Garwood for 16 years, Baragia traveled to Meridian about a week ago for the awards ceremony and said the award is definitely a highlight of her career.
“It was quite an honor,” she said.
Baragia is the school’s only full-time counselor, so her work schedule is packed. She spends most of her days talking with classes about how to resolve conflicts on the playground and in the classroom. It’s a way of exposing kids to problem-solving methods that can prevent things like physical fights and name-calling.
“Right now it’s heavy on the classroom because that’s preventative,” Baragia said. “We want to get in right away and teach them how to solve” their problems.
Soon she’ll start leading small groups of kids in exercises and discussions about dealing with things such as social skills, divorce or the incarceration of a parent. BJ DeAustin, principal at Garwood, nominated Baragia for the award.
A graduate of the University of Nevada-Reno, Baragia has a master’s degree in educational psychology and worked at a middle school in Nevada for five years before moving to North Idaho. She worked at Spirit Lake and Athol elementary schools before settling in at Garwood.
What made her choose counseling as a profession?
“This is going to sound really corny, but I truly just wanted to have an impact in the world,” she said. “I would say all counselors work as hard as I do – and all educators – and we all deserve to be recognized. And also, thank you to BJ for nominating me.”