Arch Coal names teacher of the year

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Canyon View Junior High School’s Fehlberg Receives Arch Coal Teacher Achievement Award
There wasn’t one singular influence that Reed Fehlberg can point to that led him to teaching. “Several things influenced me to be a teacher,” he said. “I had a lot of fun teaching as a teenager, working at Boy Scout camps in northern Wyoming. My teachers were another influence. They became my heroes, and I am still grateful for their influence and direction they gave me.
“Many things motivate me to continue,” he said. “One is feeling that I am helping shape the lives of my students and giving them positive direction. I enjoy sharing their optimism and watching them develop their talents and engage in critical thinking. Another contributor is seeing former students contributing to society and ‘beating the odds’ with their musical successes.”
As a result of his ability to inspire his students, Fehlberg received recognition on May 8. He was one of five teachers to receive a 2013 Arch Coal Teacher Achievement Award. Paul Lang, Arch Coal executive vice president and chief operating officer, made the announcement during a ceremony at Gunnison Valley High School. He was accompanied by Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert and Utah Education Association President Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh. This is the seventh year the Arch Coal Teacher Achievement Awards have been presented to teachers from Utah’s Carbon, Emery, Sanpete and Sevier counties, which surround the Sufco, Dugout Canyon and Skyline mines operated by Canyon Fuel Company LLC, a subsidiary of Arch Coal.
“Arch Coal is proud to recognize the recipients of this year’s Arch Coal Teacher Achievement Awards,” Lang said. “These educators challenge and inspire our children to explore and to dream. They are passionate about their jobs and generously share their abilities with their communities, and they lead by example to help children succeed.”
Fehlberg teaches band at Canyon View Junior High School, Huntington Elementary and Cleveland Elementary. He has 35 years of teaching experience. “Every day I am in the position to shape the minds, moral fiber, ambitions and dreams of the next generation,” he said. “What a tremendous opportunity and humbling responsibility. The student always needs to be more important than the subject being taught. They may forget the notes, the songs or the rhythms, but they won’t forget the way they felt while they were learning.”
“A lot of music teachers in the Emery District have come and gone, but Reed is deeply rooted in the local educational culture,” said Larry W. Davis, principal at Emery High School. “His influence dominates everything that is good about our band programs in elementary, junior high and high school. Hundreds of lives have been impacted in positive ways by his example, influence and instruction.”
Fehlberg earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Brigham Young University in Provo. He has attended a number of conferences and conventions to improve his skills including those hosted by the Utah Music Educators, Utah Rural Schools, National Bandmaster Association and Western National Music Educators. He also attended a national sight-reading clinic and an international French horn symposium, and organized and taught electronic workshops and summer camps. Fehlberg is a 35-year Boy Scout leader and has served on the district’s Six-Point Basic Leader Training Staff. He has been a 4-H leader for 24 years and served as both vice-president and president of the local Community Co-ed Volleyball Association. In addition, he has coached little league soccer, girls’ softball and little league wrestling. Fehlberg is a certified emergency medical technician.
Each Teacher Achievement Award recipient receives a distinctive trophy, a classroom plaque and a $3,500 personal cash award. Nominations for the award are made by the public, and selection is made by a blue-ribbon panel of the teachers’ peers, all former recipients of the Arch Coal award.
The teacher recognition awards are underwritten by the Arch Coal Foundation. Longstanding supporters of the program are the Utah State Office of Education, Utah Education Association, Utah School Superintendents Association, Carbon County School District, Emery County School District, Sevier County School District, North Sanpete School District, South Sanpete School District, AmericanWest Bank, radio stations KMTI, KLGL, KMGR, KSVC, KWUT, KOAL, KARB, KRPX, and Market Express, Taco Time and Bookcliff Sales in Price.
The Arch Coal Foundation also supports teacher recognition and grants programs in Wyoming, West Virginia and Colorado, as well as a number of other education-related causes.
St. Louis-based Arch Coal, Inc. is one of the world’s top coal producers for the global steel and power generation industries, serving customers in 25 countries on five continents. Its network of mining complexes is the most diversified in the United States, spanning every major coal basin in the nation. Arch Coal’s Canyon Fuel Company is Utah’s largest coal producer, with a workforce of more than 700. Arch Coal and the Arch Coal Foundation have a long history of supporting educational and community causes in Utah.