Profile in Leadership: Becky Ayler. Park High Vice Principal teaching her students to persevere and be the best they can be. That and she digs Forensics Science – how cool is that!

I have had a busy week spent with those who educate, care for, and oversee your kids during the day, as I’ve covered school stories in Clyde Park, Wilsall, and Livingston this week that were all intertwined in the schools of Park County.

From East Side School being able to bring in Author Bruce Smith thanks to a grant from the Livingston Education Foundation (and give a thrill to Nolan Morris as he met his favorite author), Kendall Mosley winning the Park County Spelling Bee, Desirae Herron setting a school record as she read for 6,015 minutes in just three weeks up in Shields Valley as part of the Shields Valley Grade School Books for Bikes reading contest to a couple of coffee shops to sip coffee with Jenny Malloy, Co-Executive Director of Rural Resilience and Sarah Skoglund the nonprofits Social Worker to learn more about this much need organizations outreach and mental healthcare of students in rural areas.

I met three educators in Wilsall, Kyleen Olson, Theresa Watts, and Mandy Johnstone, who showed unbelievable dedication to their jobs and students – it was simply awe-inspiring. The pride that beamed across the face of Watts could have lit all of Shields Valley on Thursday when it was announced during a school assembly that one of her students in her second-grade class, Sidney Davis, raised $1,200 for new books for the school library and another, Sophie Swan earned the second Top Reader award when she read almost 2,000 minutes.

It proves that it takes someone special to teach, administer, and care for students—someone like Becky Ayler. The current Vice Principal at Park High School, Ayler, has dedicated her life to teaching.