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A well-known face at Highland Junior High School in Ogden is gone, but the lessons he taught live on with his students.
We received multiple High 5 nominations from former students of Doug Christensen. He recently retired, but for more than 25 years he volunteered his time to take students on a special trip to the Grand Canyon.
A big group of excited students and former students joined us to give "Mr. C" a High 5 this morning.
Another teacher, Kim Irvine, got him to the school early this morning by telling him some of the kids going on the trip this year were concerned about safety. "He's here to convince the parents the trip is safe," she said.
Highland Jr. High is an inner city school, and if you ask the students, that trip to the Grand Canyon led by Mr. C each year is the highlight of their junior high education.
One of his students said, "Mr. C is just an awesome teacher. He's really daring. He encouraged us to ... not worry about our own safety but for others."
The qualification for the trip is to have good citizenship, and Mr. C kept up with students' citizenship to make sure it was up to par.
"We learned how to have new friends and to trust one another," one student said of the trip.
Christensen explained why he's led the trip for 28 years. "It's been something that I feel has been a benefit to the students' social well-being and their citizenship in the community. And once the program started, I could see the benefit. I felt that it was worth some time and investment from our school, not just me."
He says it was also a lot of fun.
If you'd like to nominate someone for a High 5, see the link on this page.
