RE-1 Valley students share teacher tributes for appreciation week

RE-1 Valley students put the focus on the adults who make school feel steady, personal and worth remembering. In a special Teacher Appreciation Week episode of the RE-1 Valley Voices Podcast, students from across the district joined Superintendent Dustin Hunt to talk about teachers who have mattered to them, turning a district update into a snapshot of what families value most in local schools.

The district’s live feed described the students as the voices behind the microphone and said their stories highlighted how educators shape students’ lives every day. Rather than relying on an administrator-led salute, the episode let children explain, in their own words, what encouragement, mentorship and everyday support look like inside RE-1 Valley classrooms. The result was less a ceremonial tribute than a clear signal about which relationships stick with students long after the school day ends.

The timing matched National Teacher Appreciation Week, which ran May 4-8, 2026, with National Teacher Day falling on May 5. RE-1 Valley also used the episode to invite the broader community to pause and thank a teacher, a message that carries added weight in a district that serves 1,913 students across six schools with a student-teacher ratio of 16:1. The Colorado Department of Education describes Valley RE-1 as a rural district on Colorado’s Northeastern Plains alongside the Platte River, where Sterling Correctional Facility and small businesses are major employers.

Hunt, who became superintendent in 2025, brought nearly 30 years of education experience to the job after working as a teacher in Idaho and later as both a high school principal and superintendent in Wyoming. In a June 2025 message, he said he and his wife, Heidi, were excited to call the community home. That background fits the tone of the podcast, which has also been used for broader district storytelling, including an earlier episode introducing Hunt and another focused on rebuilding the district’s legacy.

The district’s decision to elevate student voices during Teacher Appreciation Week also fit its public image as an Accredited with Distinction system. In Logan County, where schools often serve as anchors for rural communities, the message from RE-1 Valley was direct: the people students remember most are the ones who show up, listen and keep building trust day after day.