2013 - Regional Teacher of the Year - Rick Gile

Rick is the Senior Naval Sciences instructor at Everett High School where he began teaching in 2007. He first felt a spark for teaching in the cockpit as a Navy flight instructor. Today, Rick is focused on encouraging leadership and honor in future generations.



Since arriving at Everett, Rick has rescued the Naval Junior ROTC program from near collapse. The program has nearly tripled in enrollment and students have contributed over 3,000 service hours to their community. Members of Rick’s NJROTC are admired as community leaders, and in 2011 the unit was recognized with the Navy’s “most improved” award.



Colleagues and students say Rick’s instruction is spellbinding, and it is this gift, along with the gravitas he brings to the profession, that makes Rick such a successful teacher. Rick says teaching is mostly about helping people find their way. He believes there may be many more great teachers in our communities working in other vocations and that the teaching profession is hungry for these fresh perspectives. Rick’s students acknowledge him as a great mentor and a hero. They perceive his classroom as a place to win honor, and they rise to the occasion.



“Commander Gile has made an enormous impact on my life,” says student Eimi Omokawa. “He has helped me understand the struggles and importance of leadership, patience, hard work and dedication to academicsand every aspect of life. I am not the only student he has affected to such a great extent. There are many others who would happily write multiple pages about Commander Gile’s benevolence and wisdom — each with their own experiences with and anecdotes of this remarkable man.”