It wasn’t until his junior year of college when AVID coordinator and teacher Grant Wilhite first discovered his true passion in life: working with children. While he had considered wanting to become a teacher because of the influences from his high school cross country coach, it wasn’t until a couple years later when he decided to major in secondary education with an emphasis in social studies.

After 17 years of teaching and changing the courses of students’ lives, Wilhite is now being recognized as the Teacher of the Year for his hard work and dedication.

“My main goal [as a teacher] is to see all my students succeed and to have high expectations, and for them to achieve those high expectations and to make a positive impact on a student’s life,” Wilhite said.

Throughout the many years working as an AVID coordinator and teacher, Wilhite has greatly impacted the lives of many students for the better. Not many teachers are able to achieve such an accomplishment during their careers.

“Overall anything that I have problems with he’s more than willing to go out of his comfort zone of just teaching [to] make sure that you are successful,” senior Geovanni Medina said. “His teaching is different compared to what I’ve seen with previous teachers, and I could probably say that I could see him like a father figure just based on how dedicated he is to making sure that each student is successful.”

Wilhite truly lives up to the criteria of teacher of the year every day; teaching is his passion and he is able to help students reach their full potential. Not only does he put in hours of hard work regularly, he also acts as a life coach to his students.

“It doesn’t matter how much you know, it just matters how much you care,” Wilhite said. “I really believe that if students feel like you care about them, then they’re going to do whatever they can to be successful for you.”

Many of Wilhite’s students in the AVID program strive to be first generation college students. While they are still uncertain of their futures, through Wilhite’s teaching he is able to lead his students to success while also preparing them for college.

“He’s impacted my life because he’s always pushing me to do better and better and work harder than other teachers,” senior Sterling Winfield said.

Many of the students who are a part of the AVID program with Wilhite have accomplished the goals they once thought were impossible. With his teaching and life coaching pushing them to new heights, many students are able to attend college and further their education that was previously not an easily obtainable goal.

“Really it’s all about them; it’s their individual determination that caused them to be successful, [and] I’m just the guide to help them to succeed and to help them reach the goals they want to have,” Wilhite said.