‘Tate Aldrich Day’ proclaimed in Laconia

By MICHAEL KITCH, LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — Monday was proclaimed "Tate Aldrich Day" in the city as the City Council honored the graduate of Laconia High School who, after returning to his alma mater and joining the English Department, was named New Hampshire Teacher of the Year for 2017.

Repeating remarks he made when the award was presented to the cheers of the assembled students and teachers at the high school in September, Aldrich said "I am who I am because of the city of Laconia." He thanked the mentors, coaches, colleagues and students with whom he has worked during what has been a relatively short but exceptionally promising career.

Reading a proclamation, Mayor Ed Engler noted that Aldrich graduated from Laconia High School in 2004 and from the University of New Hampshire in 2008, and began teaching the next year. He has also coached boy's varsity lacrosse and junior varsity basketball as well as girls' junior varsity soccer and girls' varsity basketball. He has taught summer studies and night school , served as co-advisor to the National Honor Society and as Curriculum Coordinator for the English Department. And he began the first annual Spelling Bee to benefit the "Got Lunch Laconia" program.

"He challenges Laconia's students to think, feel and care abut the quality of their lives, teaching them to trust themselves and care about others," Engler said. Describing Aldrich as "influential," the mayor said that "He really cares about what students are learning and how they are using the knowledge and skills in his class and beyond." Former students, he continued, say they did not realize they could enjoy reading and writing "until he unlocked it for them. This is why he is a great teacher: He unlocks potential that students never knew they had."

Aldrich, who said earlier that juggling the responsibilities of the honor with his obligations as a teacher has posed a challenge, offered his brief remarks and wished the mayor "a happy Tate Aldrich Day."

Tate Aldrich of Laconia High School, left, the New Hampshire Teacher of the Year, was honored by Mayor Ed Engler, right, and the City Council on Monday, which was proclaimed "Tate Aldrich Day" in Laconia. (Michael Kitch/Laconia Daily Sun)