The Maine Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (MAHPERD) has awarded its 2014 Maine’s Health Teacher of the Year award to Boothbay Region High School teacher Bryan Dionne.

Dionne is the health and physical education teacher, along with head football coach, at BRHS. BRHS Principal Dan Welch nominated Dionne.

“Bryan has exceeded all expectations,” Welch said. “The students know he cares, his door is always open. He has high expectations, and at the same time inspires people to meet those expectations.

“I am very excited for him, he really deserves this.”

Dionne was required to put together a packet with supporting letters from fellow teachers, Superintendent Eileen King and students.

“It was a long application process,” Dionne said. “And I’m honored. Though my name is on the award, I think of this as a community achievement — I’m just one part of the learning process.”

Dionne’s classes focus on all aspects of health and wellness, including emotional and mental along with physical. He shares his life experiences with his students, including substance abuse struggles members of his family have faced.

“I try to keep things as real-world as possible,” Dionne said. “My job is to open kids’ eyes to new perspectives and possibilities, and help each student improve their personal health and wellness. Everything builds on that.”

Dionne also shares his farming experience with students, and how embracing healthy eating helped him overcome his own health problems.

“I started off with a box garden as a college student,” Dionne said. “Now I grow vegetables year-round and can share my mistakes in gardening to help students avoid them.”

Several of Dionne’s students have been inspired by his stories, and have begun gardening or raising chicken at home.

For one student, sophomore Riley Spear, Dionne’s story inspired his final project for his freshman year class.

Each student completes an end of the year project in Dionne’s health class.

For some, it’s starting a compost bin at home. For others, it’s learning a new skill, such as how to knit.

For Spear, it was creating a school forest garden where all the plants exist symbiotically. He continues to work with other students to maintain and tend the garden.

“Mr. Dionne’s classes are fun,” Spear said. “He wants to be there in the classroom. He will sometimes jump on the desks when he gets excited talking about something. I remember when he was talking about mental health, and he talked about the scene in ‘Rudolph’ when Clarice told Rudolph he was cute, which caused him to fly. Mr. Dionne was running around the room going ‘she thinks I’m cute! She thinks I’m cute!’ I’ll never forget that.”

Junior Anna Baumm created a community service club for her final project as a freshman. Club members visited to Lincoln County Animal Shelter once a week to walk dogs, play with cats, and spend time helping both the staff and animals. The club later joined with the guidance club and is still in existence today.

“Mr. Dionne is a really good teacher who knows how to connect with students,” Baumm said. “He’s really engaging, and this year I’m in his gym class. I don’t like gym but it’s all right when he’s teaching.”

“There is no one more deserving of this award,” Spear said. “I think he should win coach of the year, too.”

This is Dionne’s fifth year teaching at BRHS. He has previously taught at Conners Emerson School in Bar Harbor. He earned his degree at UMaine in Orono, and learned one of his most valuable lessons from the athletic director there.

“His name was Jim Dyer, and he told me that learning is a two-way street, and that every successful teacher learns from their students as well as teaches them. He taught me to be a role model for students, and to smile at them in the hallways.”

That trust has led students to approach Dionne with issues they are scared about, or leave letters on his desk so they can express themselves without having to talk face-to-face. Dionne has helped many students overcome challenges in their lives, including substance abuse.

“But I would trade this award in a second if it meant I could reach just one more student,” Dionne said.

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