Noah Simonson MAT '16 Named KATU-TV Everyday Hero

Noah Simonson MAT '16 was recently recognized as a KATU-TV "Everyday Hero" for the Comics Academy, which he started at the school where he teaches. Simonson is a  kindergarten teacher at Quatama Elementary School in Hillsboro. Everyday heroes are nominated by community members and featured weekly on KATU-TV. 

The Comics Academy has become one of the most in-demand school clubs and provides kindergarten through sixth grade students with the opportunity to create and share their own comics. While the club has not been able to meet in-person during the pandemic, Noah and staff from the school have added comic books to the lunches, which are provided to students. The idea for the Comics Academy came from Noah's own love of comic books. From an early age, Noah was designing his own comics. Through the medium of comics, Noah's students reveal what is important to them and wrestle with real challenges in their lives, enriching the classroom and the relationships between the students and the teacher.