In my eighth grade year at Skyline Middle School, we had a change in our athletic department. Peter Metrinko took on the position as Skyline’s new athletic director. In previous years, he was the athletic director at Brandywine Springs Middle School. He coached basketball and baseball there, and did the same at Skyline.

Skyline was going through troubles with behavior, and it seemed almost impossible to get the students under control. But the bad behavior didn’t phase Mr. Metrinko. Instead of handing out the detentions, which did close to nothing, he found ways to talk and relate to the students to keep them from continuing the bad behavior. For example, I played on the boys basketball team, and some of the players were having behavior issues. Mr. Metrinko understood that some of the students were having trouble with their home lives. So one day at basketball practice, he had two players from the NBA D League team, The Delaware 87ers, come and talk to the team. Like some of the kids on my team, they also had issues at home as kids, but they explained that you can’t let that effect you. After that meeting with the players, the kids on my team were able to stay out of trouble.

In previous years, the Skyline sports teams always had the same old beat up jerseys. Mr. Metrinko made sure to put an end to that. Almost every sports team got newer and nicer jerseys. Mr. Metrinko would often say that we have the best looking jerseys around. But the jerseys weren’t the only thing Mr. Metrinko cared about, he was also all for having a great time while playing. Mr. Metrinko made sure playing a Skyline sport was a fun experience for everyone.

Athletics wasn’t the only thing that Mr. Metrinko effected, he also made things better around the school. His attitude toward things gave me a whole new level of motivation. Before, I didn’t even want to come to school in the morning. Then, basketball and baseball practices with Mr. Metrinko gave me something to look forward to every day. School days didn’t seem so bad and long anymore. It also gave me something to work for because I wanted to keep my grades up, so I could play sports.

Mr. Metrinko really was an awesome person. He was a true role model for me, and his attitude toward things and the way he dealt with behavior problems, motivated me to be a better person. This is why I truly believe Mr. Metrinko should be the Educator of the Year.