Mr. ‘B’ Named Pueblo’s Teacher Of The Year

by Calista Gonzales

Traditionally, the teachers and staff at Pueblo select a Circle K “Teacher of the Year”—through nominations from their colleagues. This year, exceptional education teacher Mr. Gene Balsz was selected as this year’s Pueblo nominee. Most schools across the state participate in this program.

On Wednesday, Sept. 27, during the weekly teachers’ and staff members’ “professional development” meeting, Balsz received more votes than any other teacher at Pueblo.

Dr. Augustine Romero, Pueblo’s principal, said, “Mr. Balsz does an incredible job with our students and is engaged with them as well.”

Balsz, who has been working at Pueblo for the past seven years, said that he was very surprised when he found out that he was the nominee at Pueblo.

“I think the only reason why I was the nominee [and won the award] is because I can work very well with any of our students at Pueblo,” Balsz said.

He paused and said, “I’m really good with the kids who hate school.”

Besides teaching exceptional education students, Balsz is also very involved with Pueblo’s math club, called MESA—an acronym for Math, English, Science and Achievement.

“Mr. B. does an amazing job in MESA as well,” Romero said. “We are very lucky to have him at Pueblo.”

Ms. Trevia Heath, Mr. Balsz’ department chair, said, “I am delighted with Mr. Balsz’ nomination. He works hard to develop relationships with students and is always willing to try new strategies in his classroom. Gene [Balsz] is committed to fostering life-long learning habits in his students.”

Later this year, in mid-to-late-November, Circle K will announce its winner for the regional “Teacher of the Year”. Everybody at Pueblo is definitely keeping their fingers crossed for Mr. Balsz.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.