Middle school teacher Tim Relich receives Cool Teacher award at middle school.

Tim Relich, 8th Grade teacher at Cedar Springs Middle School in Cedar Springs, is the latest teacher to receive the WGVU Cool Teacher Award. WGVU honored Tim and his class with a pizza party on April 18.

Kristen Lubben nominated Tim Relich for the award because he makes everyday fun and doesn’t hesitate to admit his mistakes.

Each month WGVU judges all new entries and selects the best letters based on the students’ evidence of learning. WGVU hosts a pizza party for the winning teachers and their classes, and videotapes the celebration to promote the winning teachers and the Cool Teacher program on the airwaves of the local public broadcast station. Each winning teacher and their nominating student will receive vouchers for the USS Silversides Museum in Muskegon, Michigan. On May 4, 2016, WGVU hosted a year-end awards celebration at Eberhard Center Conference center on the downtown campus of GVSU to honor all of this year’s winning teachers.

Students from kindergarten through eighth grade can nominate their teacher by writing a letter describing why they think their teacher is cool. Included should be the student’s name, address and phone number, the teacher’s name and grade, and the school name, address and phone number. Entries should be sent to: WGVU Cool Teacher, 301 Fulton St. W, Grand Rapids, MI 49504-6492. Students can also nominate their teachers and see winning teachers online at wgvu.org.

Cool Teacher is an example of WGVU’s mission to provide educational, informational, and entertaining programs and events to the West Michigan community as a service of Grand Valley State University.