Golden Apple Award: Joshua Edens, Orchard Knob Middle School

CHATTANOOGA, TN (WDEF) – From The Ohio State University to Orchard Knob Middle School, Joshua Edens is an exceptional educator, and he’s not a bad coach, either. Students, players and parents all agree that Mr. Edens goes above and beyond.

Travis Miller is the acting principal at Orchard Knob Middle.

Miller says, “He (Edens) goes above and beyond both in the classroom and on the court, working with kids. He makes sure that they have everything that they need.”

When asked to describe himself, Mr. Edens says, “I like to believe that I’m someone who is motivated to come to work every day to do what’s best for the kids, first and foremost, and with that comes the responsibility of academics, social, emotional learning, along with the basic needs that many of us just take for granted.”

Tei’Asha Houston is an 8th grader at Orchard Knob.

She says,”He’s fun, and he likes to communicate with everybody, and just make everybody laugh and happy.”

8th grader Malik Bailey chips in, “He helped me learn easy, and like, he made everything not boring and stuff.”

8th grader Dvaughn Moore adds, “He a nice guy. He made it easier to do the work.”

8th grader Quantorrie Lewis agrees, “He’s fine and he’s good at math with us.”

Mr. Edens concludes, “I knew I wanted to teach when I was in school.  I know a lot of teachers start that way, especially with special education. I found myself drawn to the students at lunch that were servicing the special education program at my high school, and from that point on, I had it easy because I knew what I wanted to do from high school on. I don’t have any educators in my family or anything like that. I’ve been blessed with some great educators in my life. So, to say that they didn’t motivate me to be a teacher would be a lie. I think I was shown how great an impact teachers can have, and that is paired with the want to help the kids that I serve. The number one goal for them, for me, is to just set themselves up in life, and to put to be able to put themselves in situations that they can do what they want to do. What they want to do is up to them, but i just want them to have the tools to be given the opportunity and the option to do what they want to do.”