July 16, 2024 at 11:05 a.m.
Former Hope Educator Honored with Simon Youth Foundation Award
Former Hope educator, Todd Grimes, has been honored as the 2023 Teacher of the Year by the Simon Youth Foundation (SYF).
Grimes, who is lead teacher at Simon Youth Academy at
Greenfield-Central High School, a part of Greenfield-Central Community School Corporation, and an HSJ Online contributor, says he “just happened to be at the SYF National Conference in Orlando” in November 2023 when he found out he’d been given the honor.
Though he was aware he’d been nominated, being named the recipient was something else, he says.
“Not in a million years did I think I would be named the recipient of it, but lo and behold, I was,” Grimes says. “My colleagues made it a bigger deal out if it than they needed to, and the kids were all excited.”
The mission of the Simon Youth Foundation is to serve the underserved, Grimes says, as they help at-risk youth earn their high school diploma. Each year the organization recognizes an administrator and teacher from each of its more than 30 affiliated academies across 16 states in the U.S.
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Todd Grimes with Mickey at the SYF Conference in Orlando, Fl., in November 2023. Photo credit: Todd Grimes, submitted.
Grimes’ award comes in the wake of a devastating prior year when, in 2022, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Since that time, he’s undergone surgery, chemotherapy and, today, remains in remission.
Despite a rough past couple of years, Grimes says he considers himself incredibly fortunate. Not only did he receive the SYF award, but he was also awarded the Teacher Creativity Fellowship Program Grant given by the Lilly Endowment, Inc., for his proposed “Keep Calm and Hike On (And On…): A Cancer Survivor’s Quest for Inner Peace and Tranquility” project where he will engage in hiking adventures from New England to the Grand Canyon to regain inner and physical strength; reflecting through reading, writing and photography.
“I’ve completed parts of it hiking miles and miles of trails and lots of Indiana State parks,” Grimes says. “Our son lives in southern Vermont and I spent a week out there this summer hiking in Vermont and New Hampshire. It will culminate next summer – hopefully – at the Grand Canyon.”
As for the SYF award, well, Grimes remains humbled and grateful for the honor.
“I certainly don’t teach for recognition,” he says. “That isn’t part of it, but I do have to admit it was pretty cool. I thought about all those old commercials where the Super Bowl winners say they’re going to Disney World. I got to have my picture with Mickey and the whole shebang.”
