Thomas H. Sayes took the long way around to the classroom, spending time in such activities as graduating from the U.S. Military Academy, serving in the Vietnam War, doing freelance photo work in Europe, being an antique exporter in the Middle East, touring as a professional racquetball player and digging for pre-Columbian artifacts in Costa Rica.

In the end, he concluded that nothing could be more rewarding than turning young people on to learning.Sayes was honored Tuesday by the Granite Board of Education as the district's Teacher of the Year for 1992. He will represent the district in state competition. The state winner, in turn, competes in a national contest to identify the country's outstanding teachers. Sponsors are the Council of Chief State School Officers and Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. nationally and the Utah state superintendent of public instruction for the state.

The Cyprus High School math teacher sees teaching as a profession in which "each day promises a new adventure, another opportunity to make a difference in the lives of young people who look to me for guidance in their personal quests for fulfillment."

He told board members that as teacher of the year, he expects to be the banner-bearer for all of Granite's education community. "We all share in this," he said. "No one person is responsible for the success of any student."

A 14-year teacher, he spent three years at Kennedy Junior High School before being transferred to Cyprus. Besides teaching higher algebra, calculus and trigonometry, he conducts an after-school class to help students prepare for college entry exams and coaches boys and girls tennis teams. He seldom misses an event that involves any of his students, nominators said.

A student paid a high compliment, as well. "He displays a greater enthusiasm for his subject than any other teacher I have known. He constantly brings to class new objects and models that he has discovered to visually display concepts the class is learning. He never assigns homework that he himself has not completed."

The district sifted the applications of 18 nominees, including Sayes and Maxine Babalis, Joyce Baskin, Joy Brown, Barbara Burmester, Nancy Frederickson, Rebecca Hart, Debra Hogan, Karen Gail Howe, JoLynn Miller, Claire Olsen, Brenda Riet, Georgene Smith, Richard Smith, Joe Spendlove, Barbara Thayne, Sandra Woodward and Olivia Worthen.

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