South Whidbey High School teachers Doug Fulton and Tim Durbin both received awards from the South Whidbey Schools Foundation last week at a senior farewell assembly.

Fulton, who received the peer nominated Extra Mile Award, teaches science at the high school, and was nominated by colleague Charlie Davies, lead educator for the South Whidbey Academy, and himself a previous award recipient, according to a news release.

At the farewell assembly, held June 8 in the school gymnasium, Davies said he’d worked closely with Fulton for the past nine years.

“In my previous role as special education case manager, Doug was always more than willing to have struggling students in his biology class,” he said. “He would never complain about the extra burden that was placed on him or the hours of time I would take from him to talk about the kids, and how to best support them.”

“Doug would always find a way. He would always say to me, ‘Don’t worry, if the student comes to class we’ll find a way,’ and he did.”

Fulton created a new biology class for the South Whidbey Academy students this year, which was successful; students earned credit and passed the state assessment.

Fulton is also a cross country and track coach.

“Doug quietly goes the extra mile every day. We are lucky to have him,” Davies said.

South Whidbey High School senior Bailey Gochanour read aloud her nomination of math teacher Tim Durbin for the Excellence in Teaching: Mentorship Award at the farewell assembly. The award was established by Steve Shapiro and his wife, Debora Valis, for students in the community to acknowledge and honor the leadership, mentorship and inspiration of specific teachers.

Gochanour said she nominated Durbin because he has had a tremendous impact on the way she viewed math. It was a challenging subject for her, and he revealed its usefulness.

“He got me to look at math as a useful tool, rather than a core curriculum chore that I needed to do to graduate and go to college,” she said. “He rewarded hard work, rather than correct answers, which encouraged me to do my best and try my hardest, while taking a lot of the pressure and stress off that usually come with doing math.”

Math is now one of her favorite subjects.

In addition to an award plaque, the teachers received $500 checks from the Shapiro/Valis Teacher Mentorship Award endowment and an anonymous donor for the Extra Mile Award.

Contributed image — High School science teacher Doug Fulton (left) poses for a photo with teacher Charlie Davies, who nominated Fulton for the Schools Foundation’s Extra Mile Award.