Minnesota Teacher of the Year Celebrates Service as Route to Academic Achievement

Minnesota’s Teacher of the Year (‘08-’09) Derek Olson recently addressed an annual gathering of NYLC’s board and staff, testifying to the power of his early exposure to service-learning through NYLC.

Olson noted that he was not nominated for Teacher of the Year because of his students’ experiences with service-learning; instead, it was due to his students’ high scores. His belief is that the two go “hand-in-hand.”

“Every child can and should learn, serve, and lead,” he said.

A sixth-grade teacher in the Twin Cities metropolitan district of Afton-Lakeland, Olson gained early experience with service-learning in NYLC’s summer school program, WalkAbout, which ran in Minneapolis in the early 1990s.

Through this teacher training experience, he became a strong believer in fostering team-building among his students as a necessary first step toward leadership and service. Today, he ensures that this sort of team-building happens through an annual weeklong trek to Wolf Ridge Nature Center in northern Minnesota, where students are immersed in outdoor experiences.

With this foundation, his students go on to year-round integration of service-learning in their curriculum, and lead cross-age tutoring, bus patrol, and fundraising initiatives, which grow into more elaborate projects such as blood drives and addressing animal habitat loss.

Olson sees his role as that of an “advocate for kids” and servant-leader, rather than award-winner, as he represents the interests of Minnesota’s 70,000 teachers. As he said, “What you do as staff, board, and family members will go on and impact people; therefore, the circle of serving, learning, and leading continues.”

Derek Olson models his gift — an NYLC vest.