Teacher at Ben Steele Middle School receives “One Class at a Time” award

Billings, Montana – For “One Class at a Time,” Western Security Bank, City Brew Coffee, and the Education Foundation for Billings Public Schools have joined together. This initiative honors educators who go above and above for their students.

Julie Deschane is an English teacher in the eighth grade. She helps kids who are having difficulty reading and writing develop the methods and confidence they need to read, grasp, and be comfortable with things that are appropriate for their grade.

“It’s a lifelong skill, obviously,” said Mrs. Deschane.

“Depending on what novels you’re reading, you can just hit all kinds of social, emotional things that we need to talk about as young people and as older people, too. Right now, we’re reading ‘Refugee’ which is a newer novel and it’s really cool because, we’re only about 10 chapters in, but it shows all these different storylines of different refugees. Not just what they’ve heard about in the past but some current ones and things like that so it really allows for a lot of good class discussions.”

“I don’t know if you’re like me, but I like to have an actual book in my hands,” said Miller. “Do you guys like the book or doing the digital thing?”

“The book,” said the students unanimously.

“I love having a book in my hands, always,” added Mrs. Deschane. “And we’re always needing more books.”

Mrs. Deschane received a $150 gift card from City Brew Coffee in addition to a $500 award from Western Security Bank in appreciation for having such a wonderful influence on her 8th-grade pupils.