WALKER, Mich. — The staff had kept the celebration under tight wraps.
"This is the best kept secret in Walker," Superintendent Gerald Hopkins Jr. told the assembled students and staff.
What followed was a school-wide recognition ceremony honoring Zinser's commitment to early literacy — including a $1,000 award.
The surprise assembly was organized in partnership with TalentFirst, a coalition of roughly 100 West Michigan business leaders dedicated to improving education and workforce readiness across the region. Representatives from TalentFirst — including President Kevin Scotts, Director of Education Innovation Lisa Hungerford, and board member Leslie Brown — traveled to Zinser to present the organization's Early Literacy Recognition Award.
"We created the Early Literacy Recognition Award as our way to shine a light on schools, students, and administrators who are doing research-based activities and practices making literacy happen in the classroom," Scotts told students. "Today we're here at Zinser because you are one of those schools shining light to other schools here in West Michigan."
Much of the morning's praise was directed at Zinser's educators, who have made sweeping investments in their own professional development — largely on their own time.
Principal Brooke Johnston outlined a lengthy list of what staff has undertaken this school year: completing LETRS training, attending professional development sessions for the school's new Bookworms curriculum, holding weekly PLC meetings, visiting each other's classrooms in learning labs, rearranging classroom setups multiple times to better serve young readers, and working closely with reading coach Mrs. Philo.
"All of their learning happens on their own time," Hopkins emphasized. "They've been learning after school, on the weekends, and during the summer — and this time takes away from their families."
Hopkins noted that Zinser's elementary teachers, reading coaches, interventionists, and administrators are leading Kent County in science-of-reading training, with every staff member either already certified or currently completing the specialized coursework.
The celebration wasn't just for teachers. Johnston made a point of recognizing what students themselves are bringing to the work each day — from structured literacy blocks and shared reading to writing activities, at-home reading with families, and I-Ready practice.
"You're the kids who care about reading," Johnston told students. "And that matters."
For TalentFirst, the investment in early literacy is fundamentally an investment in the region's economic future.
"Good reading skills open the door to everything else you can do in life," Scotts said. "When children learn to read well, it helps them throughout school and into their future careers — and strengthens all of West Michigan."
Leslie Brown, chairman of Metal Flow and a TalentFirst board member, echoed that message with a personal touch. She told students that her company of 250 employees depends on workers who can read well — and that the habits being built at Zinser will follow them for the rest of their lives.
She closed her remarks by presenting Zinser with a $1,000 check on behalf of TalentFirst — a tangible symbol of the community's confidence in the school.
"The more you read, the more things you will know," Brown said, quoting Dr. Seuss. "The more you learn, the more places you will go."
TalentFirst celebrated two other schools the previous week and planned visits to additional schools throughout the week — part of a broader March Is Reading Month campaign. But for the students and staff at Zinser, Monday's surprise was theirs alone.
Kent ISD Superintendent Ron Gorman and State Representative Carol Lamble were also on hand to offer their congratulations.
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