Excellent Educator: Chris Zimmerman Of Ivan Sand Community H.S.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- As a social worker at Ivan Sand Community High School in Elk River, Chris Zimmerman helps students through some of their most difficult moments. His compassion is what makes him this week's Excellent Educator.

Zimmerman, who was nominated by his boss, said the secret is to be 100 percent accessible.

"Really just being present with the students when they're with you, really can't do much with students when they're not in our presence, but when they're with us we need to be present and be there for them and let everything else go by," he said.

Kids need attention -- at Ivan Sand especially so. It is an alternative school where the students struggle to graduate on time.

Zimmerman is able to connect with students through the challenges they face.

"I think part of it is my own professional experiences in terms of working with children and families, but also personal experience," he said. "I don't know of any adult in the world that doesn't have some challenges growing up."

As a social worker, students come to him when they need help with credits and testing or when they just need to talk about problems in their personal life.

"My dad passed away almost two years ago," Jessenia Kalstad, a student, said. "I was really lost but he helped me find who I was, so now that I'm able to graduate. I owe all that to Chris."

"Chris is like a Denny's, he's open all the time, and the kids have access to him, they know that if they ask to see Chris they'll see him in a short amount of time," Tom Hoffman, the principal, said. "It's all built in the relationships."

It's been a tough week for the Elk River School District after one of their school officers, Todd Besser, was killed over the weekend.

"We knew him very well. He was deeply respected in our program," Hoffman said. "Just to bring a little positive light to the district to be able to celebrate in the midst of tragedy we think that's a pretty cool thing and thank you for coming out."

On Friday, Zimmerman may be getting the award, but he says the quality of relationships between students and staff makes the entire school award worthy.

"It's kind of a cliché, but we kind of have each other's back," he said.