Educator of the Year
Mr. Joseph Bolinski



Hardworking, enthusiastic, and determinate qualities are the ones that I want my teacher to have. Mr. Joseph Bolinski was the teacher with all those qualities. Mr. Boliniski was my eighth grade English teacher at All Saints Catholic School. His class was always my favorite; I couldn’t wait to get to his class each and every day. He made school worthwhile and exciting. Mr. B was not only my favorite teacher but many other students as well, so I believe that Mr. Boliniski was the best choice to nominate for Educator of the Year.
Mr. B was a very funny teacher and that is why I believe everyone liked him so much. He really connected with his students by helping everyone even if it meant having to teaching something a couple different ways. Mr. B is totally into sports and would come to our games throughout the year to watch and support our school. He made class exciting. His class was not like any others. I didn’t really enjoy coming to school to learn, but more to have fun and be with my friends, but Mr. B made his class fun, exciting, and enjoyable and that is why I was always so excited for his class at the end of every day. He would even stay after school if need be to get extra help on any concept. He interacted with his students and was not just there to teach but make an impact on the lives of children.

The tactics that Mr. B used to teach us definitely helped us the most. He taught us grammar and how to write papers. He stressed that being able to write well and how to write a research paper would be a crucial skill that we would absolutely need in order to make it through high school in every subject. He stressed that writing is an important skill that is not only used for English class, but every other class as well, and that we would need to know how to write properly for the rest of our lives if we really wanted to get somewhere. If we really didn’t get the topic that we were learning, he would try and teach it a different way, which most teachers don’t. Many teachers that I have had, if you don’t get the subject, they just try and beat it into your head by teaching it the same way, but not Mr. B. He would take the time to individually work with each student that needed extra help during class while we worked in the book or on a worksheet. He really helped me understand what I was doing and writing in every single class. Some tactics that he would use during class to teach were the “Cupcake Review Game” or the workbook and worksheets. My favorite game that we played was Grammar Olympics. Grammar Olympics was a review game that went on for two weeks at the end of the year to go over all the material that we had learned. We would participate in activities that occur in the Olympics such as: curling, hockey, and skating and then after the activity he would give us a grammar question that we had learned throughout the year. At the end of two weeks, we would have an award ceremony and everyone would get candy and the top three teams, with the highest scores, would receive an actual medal for their accomplishments during the two weeks. This was my favorite thing that we did all year.

Mr. Bolinski was a very fun teacher, but healways knew when he had to get us focused and back to work. Everyone respected him because he respected us. He treated us like young adults and put responsibilities on us. Most teachers would treat us like we were still in elementary school instead of almost entering high school. Mr. B prepared me for high school, and I know that I would not be doing as well as I am now if he hadn’t taught me the way that he did. He would put big responsibilities on us such as our major research paper that we needed to complete in order to pass his class. I think that was the most stressful thing that a school teacher had ever put on us, but it was the best assignment a teacher had ever given us because we knew that we had to do it and do it right. It was our eighth grade year and towards the end of the year, no one cared anymore because we would be leaving All Saints and moving on to high school. Once he put that research paper and the consequences of not being able to graduate because of it on our plate, it made us really step up and get it done. No one wanted to stay back in eighth grade for not completing their research paper. I don’t think a day went by last year that we said, “I can’t wait to leave this school,” but now we all regret saying it. We miss our middle school days. Mr. B really made my eighth grade experience great with his teaching and personality. I wish I had a teacher right now that was just like Mr. Bolinski.

I can’t wait to go back to All Saints to visit Mr. B with some of my classmates. He was such a great teacher, and I hope that the seventh and eighth graders at All Saints now will take advantage of his teaching while they are still there. Waking up for school would not be such a struggle if all our teachers were like him. Mr. Bolinski is such a great teacher and deserves the nomination for Education of the Year.