American Education Week is a national holiday that highlights the nation’s educators and their hard work. It was first celebrated in 1921 and is still celebrated every Nov. This year the 97th annual American Education Week took place on Nov 12-16. Mu Alpha Theta celebrated the holiday by organizing a special surprise for math teachers on Wednesday, Nov 14: during a department meeting they were served ice cream sundaes and given  handmade cards.

Education and educators have often been taken for granted, which has been a major concern since the early 1900s. Following the end of World War 1 in 1918, it was found that education was not valued in society as the National Education Association and the American Legion discovered that 25% of draftees into the war were illiterate. Faced with this worrying statistic, the two groups met to find a solution in order to bring the public’s attention to the importance of education. Thus, American Education Week was born. In the modern day,  this week is used by schools as a way to show appreciation for all teachers.

“For America Education Week, Mu Alpha Theta (officers) wrote thank-you cards and distributing them to math teachers,” senior and Mu Alpha Theta treasurer Grace King said. “Also, we are serving the staff ice cream through an ice cream sundae bar at a math department meeting.”

The club hopes that this gesture of kindness will show the teachers that they are appreciated by students. Many people overlook the hard work and time teachers spend on tasks such as making lesson plans, creating positive atmospheres for learning, and helping individual students. Despite their effort and dedication to their students, Teachers are infamously underpaid so moments like these have a stronger impact than one might think.

“My mom is a teacher and I know that they really love and enjoy it when people actually recognize all the hard work and things they do,” senior and Mu Alpha Theta Co-President Mandy Sawires said. “I think it’ll highlight their days and put a smile on their faces and that’s really all I want.”

Mu Alpha Theta hopes that these actions may inspire other students to thank their teachers throughout the year for their diligent work. And so, the decades long national tradition of honoring our educators lives on through the simple, yet sweet ice cream sundae.

“We take it as just an opportunity to say thank you to educators and people who are involved in the educational system,” said math teacher and Mu Alpha Theta sponsor Kristine Visavachaipan. “Because it is awesome that we have free education in this country.”