Principal Patricia Hansen takes pains to learn every one of her 700 students' names, which is one reason she has been picked as the Utah Education Association's Administrator of the Year.
Hansen, the principal at Spring Creek Middle School, will be honored by the UEA at its convention next month.Hansen was nominated by 94 percent of Spring Creek's teachers. Many of them mentioned her knack for - and interest in - learning names.
"She has some tricks," said seventh-grade English and reading teacher Lorene Leishman. When Spring Creek was a new school, she would go into classrooms during the schoolwide silent reading time. "She would sit there with a yearbook and look at the faces," Leishman recalled.
Why take the time to learn 700 names?
"It's worth it," said Hansen. She has seen what it means to the students when she can call them by name, especially on their first day as sixth-graders at Spring Creek.
Teachers agreed that Hansen gives their school a family atmosphere.
"I think my teachers make me look good," Hansen said. "We share the same goals and we're here for the same thing."
Students are also enthusiastic about their principal.
"If you get in trouble she doesn't really yell at you," said eighth-grader Jon Reams. "She just tries to tell you what you need to do next time."
Hansen reports with pride that 20 students have volunteered to become peer tutors to students with disabilities. And through the years, she has encouraged them to serve through a number of projects: Sub for Santa, a food bank drive, a donation drive for a Russian orphanage.
Hansen has spent 25 years in the Cache County School District.