“It’s the perfect size.  It’s not too big, it’s not too small.  It offers students all kinds of opportunities that even a little smaller school couldn’t, but kids don’t get lost like they might in Iowa City or Cedar Rapids,” retired teacher and coach Gary Curtis said of the Highland Community School District.  

“We’ve always had a pretty congealed staff,” he continued, just minutes before he would address them in the elementary school gymnasium. “The staff knew each other and liked each other, cooperated with each other, which is one of the keys to having a good school, having that close-knit staff.”

These attributes – the size,  opportunities, and staff cohesion at Highland – are just a few of what kept the Grayson College grad at the site of his first teaching job for 48 years, until his retirement in 2016.  

His love for the Highland community was evident on August 21, when he accepted the district’s first Spirit of Education Award at the full staff luncheon, as was the community’s love for him.  Many long-time staffers didn’t miss the opportunity to embrace their former colleague.  

The Spirit of Education Award was the brainchild of Superintendent Ken Crawford, who realized “We don’t do enough to promote the positive” at Highland and decided to rectify that with an appreciation award.  Curtis was the obvious first recipient.  

“Everybody agreed,” Crawford said.  “That’s a tribute to him that I just hope he could feel.” 

Crawford introduced Curtis to the full staff gathered on the gymnasium bleachers before presenting him with the award.  

“Highland High School was opened in 1965, and the first class was the class of 1966 at the present site that we have.  In 1968, Gary Curtis came to Highland Schools,” Crawford said.  

“Gary Curtis is going to be our first recipient of a new Highland appreciation award called the Spirit of Education.  This award goes to a former teacher/educator who has made a lasting impact on the Highland Community Schools’ students, staff, and community.  This person exemplifies the professionalism, the positivity, and the good morals that we want our students to exhibit when they graduate from high school,” he continued.

Crawford proceeded to highlight a few of Curtis’s accomplishments over his long tenure as a Highland educator: He taught PE, social studies, psychology, and special education.  He was a route bus driver.  He coached football, softball, baseball, and wrestling.  He was awarded Iowa Wrestling Coach of the Year, Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame, National Wrestling Hall of Fame, seven-time District Coach of the Year, and is part of the Baseball 300 Win Club.  

“Did you serve any food in the cafeteria as well?” Crawford joked.  “There’s not a lot on that list that he has not done.”

Curtis then took the floor and said a few words in send-off to the staff as they began their new school year.  

“It took me a little while to get settled into, is this the place that I want to be?” he admitted about his start at Highland.  “Well, of course, since it worked out.  This was the place I was meant to be.”

He then suggested three things that help make a school district great.  The first was collegiality, which “has to do with a staff that is unified, listens to each other, communicates with each other, supports each other.”  

“When everyone works together to support each other, it’s going to make it a lot easier,” he said.  “You don’t feel like you’re an island, off by yourself.  You’re part of a team.”

The second thing was finding a way to connect with students; the third was encouraging students to get involved in school activities.  

“If you think about the students who have the toughest time in school, they’re probably students aren’t involved,” he said.  “Try to encourage kids to get involved in anything, be it the chess club or any of the athletic events, so that they feel like they are owners of the school.”

Crawford then presented Curtis with the Spirit of Education award.  “I feel like those words are much more inspirational than anything I can say,” Crawford remarked before thanking Curtis again for his words and for the relationships he has built within the Highland community over the years.