LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Rick Witte was nominated by two students. The following profile contains text from both nominations.

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"Math class is boring. It's the dreaded subject of the day, the class you go to and suddenly catch a migraine. This subject was, for me, the same as it was for many people in my life: awful. As grades define students, I didn't want to attend a class that would reflect badly on my report card. That said, my expectations for the much-discussed 'Mr. Witte's Math Class' were no different than those of the Arrowhead math classes before," said one student. "That was until I walked into the room."

"After sitting down, a tall man dressed in a dark blue button-down and dress pants sat on the edge of his desk, slowly twisting the red rubber wedding band decorating his left hand. He crossed his feet at the ankles as he casually looked over," said the student. "'Life is more than just math, and so is my class,' Mr. Witte said, 'For as long as you're one of my students, my way will be your way, and when you leave, you decide if you want to take it with you.'"

"He'd managed to keep an entire room of teenagers fascinated with what came next. We were one and the same when listening to him. Suddenly, math could be more than scribbled numbers on a piece of paper," said the student.

"'Delete Skyward off your phone now if you have it downloaded.' He paced between the long tables glancing down at each of us, 'As long as you're trying your best, those grades shouldn't matter. Your mental health is more important than a letter in a grade book,'" said the student.

"Shocked silence followed his words; a heaviness was lifted from the classroom like cool air had seeped in–sweet and refreshing. New expectations, new rules, new thoughts. Different," said the student.

"As a coach, a father, a teacher, Mr. Witte knew the importance of love and kindness to yourself and your peers. Following his last words, he pointed out a sign he had hanging outside his room. It read: 'YOU HAVE VALUE, YOUR WORDS MATTER, YOUR ACTIONS MATTER,'" said the student.

"Every day, Mr. Witte instructed us to hit that sign before walking into the room so we'd remember those golden words–words more important than numbers floating around on a smart board. He asked us to take away from this class not math but personal accountability and expectations for ourselves and our actions. To love ourselves. To become more than what your grades define you as. I still didn't like math–I'm a musician, not a mathematician–but I was excited to walk into an environment where my best was enough. Not only did he change my mindset towards me, but to what should be expected outside of his classroom. An open environment where mistakes are welcomed as learning experiences, where my personality defines me instead of my intelligence. Everything being said, Mr. Witte's math class turned out to be more than I could have ever hoped for. A boring math class went right," said the student.

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"I remember vividly the first time my classmates and I had this class. I came into class with an 'I don't want to be here' mindset. And Mr. Witte picked that up quickly," said another student. "As he explained the class, he noticed my facial expressions showed I didn't want to be there." 

"He called me out for it. 'Do you want to be here,' he asked. I was speechless. I just shook my head yes. At that moment, I had a feeling that he and I would not get along well," said the student.

"As periods passed and the students started to understand the class, my classmates and I connected to him. The second semester, I signed up to be in the Leaders Mindset class, which was created and taught by Mr. Witte. It was a pass-or-fail class that I thought would be an easy credit. I was wrong. This class is more than just a pass or fail class. It is a class where students dive deep down to figure out who we are and what we can change to make school, work, and home a better place for everyone. But this class made me think more about myself, thanks to Mr. Witte," said the student.

"Every single day, we would do something called mindfulness meditation. We spent five to ten minutes a day closing our eyes and listening to a podcast that helped us relax and think about our day. We all dealt with some stress, anger, anxiety, and we just needed a break from school and everything revolving around school or personal life," said the student. 

"There are two main things from Mr. Witte that I remember. One: Whenever I saw him in the halls, at lunch, or even at the coffee shop, he would always stop and say hi. No matter what he was doing, he would stop and ask how we were doing and how everything was, even if we had seen him the day before. It made me feel like I was meant to be in his class and this school. He made not just me but most of the students' lives he has been a part of feel like they are someone who has meaning and feels that they deserve to be there," said the student.

"The second thing I learned by being in Mr. Witte's class is this equation: E+R=O. E stands for the event. R stands for a response. And O stands for the outcome. This equation means the event of something happening and how you react to that event equals the outcome of the event," said the student. "Thank you, Mr. Witte, for helping me change my personal mindset to things that are always positive."