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By Sherry Long slong@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

KINGSTON – Wyoming Valley West teacher Leslie “Les” Nicholas doesn’t believe in just standing up in the classroom and lecturing his students. He inspires them to reach for their dreams and pushes them to new levels so they can achieve those dreams, said former student Kim Tranell, now the health editor for Seventeen magazine in New York City.

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Wyoming Valley West Middle School teacher with his seventh grade students during an English class session Friday. Nicholas is being inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in June. He’s the only teacher from Northeastern Pennsylvania to be chosen for this honor.

Clark Van Orden/The Times Leader

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Les Nicholas, a Wyoming Valley West Middle School teacher, asks his seventh-grade students a question during English class Friday afternoon.

Clark Van Orden/The Times Leader

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Nicholas’ love for education and his students prompted a former colleague to nominate Nicholas for induction into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, Kan.

Nicholas learned during a school assembly Wednesday he will be one of five educators from across the nation being inducted to the Hall of Fame in June.

He’s the first teacher in Northeastern Pennsylvania and only the third in Pennsylvania to receive this honor. The former journalism teacher, yearbook adviser, football and track coach is currently teaching seventh-grade English at Wyoming Valley West Middle School.

“I knew I was nominated. I never thought I would actually win it,” the 28-year educator veteran said.

The National Teachers Hall of Fame, founded in 1989, was designed to honor elementary and secondary teachers who have taught for at least 20 years. Only 85 educators from 34 states and the District of Columbia have been inducted. Other teachers being honored this year are from Kentucky, Virginia, and Kansas.

For as long as Nicholas can remember he always wanted to teach. To inspire. To spark a child’s imagination. Actually his profession is almost hereditary. The 4th generation educator is following in the footsteps of his father, grandmother and great-grandmother.

“When I picked a profession, I needed to know what I did mattered. It is a remarkably rewarding one – the emotional feedback. When you teach a lesson well and you see a student get the sparkle in their eye it’s an incredible rush. It is very rewarding that you got something across,” he said.

This is not the first time 49-year old Nicholas has been honored for his teaching abilities.

The former Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year and Disney Teacher Award recipient won the First Freedom Award in 2008, a national award for teaching and defending the First Amendment.

Tranell believes Nicholas deserves all the awards and recognition he is receiving. She credits him for helping her launch her career. After college graduation, she landed a job at Glamour magazine before accepting the position at Seventeen magazine.

Under his guidance she learned all aspects of journalism – the importance of meeting deadlines, proper interview techniques and layout design. She called him the “perfect mix” teacher who is passionate about the subject he teaches, but also demands top quality from his students.

“He is good at opening your eyes and showing you what you are capable of and pushing you to achieve it. He wanted to give his students every possible experience they could have,” Tranell said.

He feels fortunate to have been surrounded by great educators his entire life, yet also said he felt there were many other teachers he’s worked alongside over the years that he felt were more deserving of this award.

About Les nicholas

Name: Leslie “Les” Nicholas

Age: 49

Family: wife, Jo Ann; son, Jordan, 19, a freshman at Penn State University – Lehman campus

Hometown: Kingston

Education: Bachelor of Arts degree in English, German, and Education from Wilkes College; Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from University of Pennsylvania

Honors received: First Freedom Award (2008); Medal of Merit, Journalism Education Association (2006); Honorable mention, USA Today’s All USA Teacher Team (2006); Disney Teacher Award (2005); Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year (2004); Pennsylvania School Press Association Journalism Teacher of the Year (2002)