[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 17 (Monday, April 29, 2002)]
[Pages 678-680]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the National Teacher of the Year Award Ceremony

April 24, 2002

    The President. Well, thank you, Rod. Thanks very much. I want to 
welcome you all to the White House and the spectacular Rose Garden. I'm 
a part of a proud tradition: For 25 years, American Presidents--for 50 
years, American Presidents have been privileged to present the National 
Teacher of the Year Awards.
    This ceremony not only honors a single individual; this ceremony 
honors an entire profession. Teachers make extraordinary contributions 
to the communities in which they live and, therefore, make extraordinary 
contributions to our entire country. We give our teachers a great 
responsibility, to shape the minds and hopes of our children. We owe 
them our thanks and our praise and our support.
    I wish the First Lady would be here today. She is--she reminds me on 
a daily basis of the importance of being a teacher. When I married her, 
she was a public school librarian. She really didn't care for politics 
much--[laughter]--didn't particularly care for politicians. [Laughter] 
But I'm so glad she said yes when I asked her to marry me. She's a great 
First Lady and loves the idea of teaching, and one of her jobs is going 
to go around the country and remind people of the noble profession of 
teaching and encourage people to become teachers.
    I appreciate Secretary Rod Paige. I've known Rod a long time; we're 
fellow Texans. When I picked somebody to be the Secretary of Education, 
I didn't want some theorist; I wanted somebody that had actually been in 
the trenches, who understood the importance of public education and how 
to make it work. And I wanted somebody that had a passion to make sure 
that no child got left behind in America. And I found the right man in 
my friend Rod Paige, to be the Secretary of Education.
    Secretary Paige. Thank you.
    The President. I want to thank two Members of the United States 
Congress: Judd Gregg, with whom I worked closely on the education bill 
we passed--he's from the State of New Hampshire--Todd Tiahrt from the 
State of Kansas. Thank you both for coming.
    I just had the honor of having my picture taken in the Oval Office 
with 57 teachers of the year, and it was joyous. It was great. I want to 
thank you all for coming. It seemed like some of you were just as 
excited as I was to welcome--[laughter]--but it's a great office, as you 
could see. It's such an honor to be in that office on a daily basis, 
just like I know you feel it's an honor to be in your classrooms on a 
daily basis. So congratulations; thanks so much for being a teacher; 
thanks for setting such a great example; and welcome.
    I also want to thank and congratulate our four finalists: Marian 
Galbraith, Henry Brown, Tracy Taylor Callard, and Chauncey Veatch. I'm 
going to say something about Chauncey a little later on.
    Before I do so, though, I want America to remember how important it 
is to have good teachers in our classrooms. Teachers help students to 
read and write and to think and to count. These skills are essential, 
yet teaching them is only a part of a teacher's work. A good teacher 
instills in their students a lifelong interest in learning. A good 
teacher

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gives young people a sense of their own possibilities, along with a 
respect for themselves and for others.
    To paraphrase Oliver Wendell Holmes, the greatest teacher makes 
others believe in greatness. And they leave a lasting mark on the lives 
around them. And that's why it's easy for me to say teaching is such a 
profound profession. Teachers are indispensable. We ask a lot from them, 
and teachers are right to expect a lot from us.
    I believe there is a role for the Federal Government in public 
education. It's--the role is to work with local folks to set the highest 
of high standards and to expect the best. It's to support people at the 
local level, with the full understanding that the best education 
emanates out of the classrooms, not from bureaucracies in Washington, 
DC. The role is to fund, which we do. And the role is to support our 
teachers through teacher training, retention, and recruitment, as well 
as to understand that simple things can matter to teachers a lot, like 
allowing for there to be a tax deduction for out-of-pocket expenses. 
We'll take the side of teachers as we work hard to provide a first-class 
education for every child--and we mean every child--in America.
    This year's National Teacher of the Year understands the need to 
make sure no child gets left behind. He's made extraordinary 
contributions to his students, two of whom are with us today. I'm so 
honored that both these gentlemen came from California all the way over 
here to Washington to honor a teacher. It says a lot about our honoree.
    This is a man who spent more than 25 years serving his country in 
the United States Army. Colonel Veatch, after serving the Army, turned 
to teaching over a decade ago. He now teaches social studies at 
Coachella Valley High in Thermal, California, where the overwhelming 
number of his students come from migrant families.
    Chauncey Veatch is known as a kind and courteous, a tireless worker, 
a team player, a man who has transformed the school in which he works 
and the community in which he lives. Nearly all of the students at 
Coachella Valley High School are Hispanic. Y por eso, Mr. Veatch habla 
espanol. [Laughter] He speaks Spanish. He uses the language to 
communicate with his students and to show respect for a culture. He's 
involved in many after-school programs and community events. In short, 
he's changed a lot of lives for the better.
    Through Chauncey Veatch's efforts, students long considered 
discipline problems started showing up on the honor roll. A teen with a 
learning disability who read at the elementary school level became an 
active participant in class. Boys dropped out of gangs to join the Cadet 
Corps, the student campus security force that he helped organize.
    One migrant student at the high school had to work with his family 
until November, but Mr. Veatch saved him a place in his class and then 
spent hours with the student helping him catch up. According to this 
young man, ``Mr. Veatch does this for all of his migrant students.'' No 
child will be left behind.
    Mr. Veatch's former principal, Rick Alvarez, has paid this tribute 
to him. ``Believing our students can succeed,'' Rick says, ``is not a 
desire or a facade but is actually something Chauncey lives. This caring 
can be seen in his eyes and heard in his voice and felt in his presence 
and mostly seen in his actions.''
    Chauncey Veatch says his mission as a teacher is to be ``a dream 
maker for my students, not a dream breaker.'' He understands that 
parents of every background share the same dreams for their children, 
dreams of improvement and independence and hope. ``To dream is to be 
filled with hope,'' he says, ``I know this because I see the faces of 
hope daily.''
    We want all our schools and all our teachers and principals to look 
at our children and see the faces of hope. And that's exactly what the 
teachers we honor today have done, on a daily basis.
    Mr. Veatch, for teaching is not just a career; it is a high calling; 
it's a form of service to children and to a nation he loves. He has 
served both the children and our country extraordinarily well, and it is 
my honor to present Chauncey Veatch the National Teacher of the Year 
Award. Congratulations.

Note: The President spoke at 10:25 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Rick Alvarez, assistant 
superintendent of administrative services, Coachella Valley Unified 
School District.

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