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Newark teacher Scott Briggs Newark Middle School teacher Scott Briggs was honored by 13WHAM as one of the New York Lotto Educators of the Week. They define this person as 'an exceptional teacher in our community who has improved the lives of his or her students.'
Briggs is a 7th-grade math teacher, who was nominated by his wife Cindy. She believed a story about what educators accomplish over the summer might be a nice way to begin. While he did not at first feel deserving of the honor and attention, he soon realized that he was being acknowledged for more than just his work inside the classroom. In April 1997, Briggs's father Earl, a 28-year veteran at Xerox, was involved in a head-on collision that took his life. The accident came as a result of road rage, a concept that was becoming a hot topic in the late 1990s. Herbert Francis, 67, had been aggressively tailgating driver William Glerum, 26. While Francis attempted to pass Glerum, Glerum increased his speed to prevent this from happening, in retaliation for the earlier tailgating. After the third attempt to pass, Francis lost control of his brown Saab. He crossed the center line, and crashed head-on into Earl Briggs vehicle, flipping his own. Francis was killed instantly, while Glerum fled the scene. Earl Briggs was taken to Myers Hospital in Sodus, to the emergency room, where his wife was an ER nurse. She was called into work for a collision on Rt. 104, only to find out the victim was her husband. Earl Briggs died shortly thereafter, while his wife was waiting at Strong Memorial Hospital for him to arrive via Mercy Flight. Also injured in the collision were Francis's three foster children, who later died from their injuries. They are buried in the same cemetery as Earl Briggs, and their graves are adorned with three tombstones donated by a Syracuse family, who saw the story on the local news. Since his father's death, Scott Briggs has been actively working to educate people about the dangers of road rage. He has appeared on numerous national talk shows, and has been interviewed by Gayle King and Leeza Gibbons among others. A majority of his work, however, is done with students. He is an educator in the simplest sense of the word, sharing his knowledge and a personal story with all who will listen, and hoping others take away something from their experience. He spends his summers journeying to neighboring towns and telling the story of his father's death, speaking to Driver Education classes, filled with teenagers about to take to the road for the first time. At an age when emotions run high and judgment is sometimes impaired, Briggs believes it is an important message to send to the kids. He emphasizes that nobody gets into the car with the intent to kill someone, but people can make mistakes without realizing it. For Briggs, it has always been about getting the message out there. In addition to students, he has also shared his experience with inmates at the Butler Correctional Facility, where he focuses on the underlying anger issues behind incidences of road rage. 'A lot of the guys there can relate to being angry,' he explained. 'But the story still revolves around my own personal anger at the situation and how I dealt with it.' He believes it gives the inmates a person to look at, whose method of dealing with anger didn't involve retaliation. He helps others learn to keep calm and think of the bigger picture. While Briggs acknowledges that he still sometimes becomes angry behind the wheel, he does not act on his anger, and implores the same of those who hear him speak. 'Realize it's not worth it,' he said. 'Once you can master that ... then you're fine.' Speaking frequently about the tragic accident that took his father's life is difficult, and Briggs often dreads it. He likens it to ripping a scab off a wound, but finds the entire experience rewarding. 'It feels so good when it's done. It trumps the feeling I had heading into it,' he explained. His message is still certainly having an affect on students, including those sitting in on Wednesday's presentation during 13 WHAM's visit. Briggs realizes that high school students are not always entirely comfortable expressing their feelings, but they will often share their reactions with their Driver Ed teacher afterwards. 'Kids don't come up after a presentation and say wow,' he explained. Later on they tell their teacher that it impacted them, he said. Sharing his emotional story with students who once sat in his math class is not always easy, and their own emotion sometimes makes the presentation particularly difficult for him. 'It's awkward for me, because I know I've always been the math teacher, and then all of the sudden I'm standing in front of the room breaking down and crying,' he said. 'Newark's my hardest school because of that.' Briggs realizes, however, that the message is far more important than any awkwardness that may ensue. The bottom line is, if I can help students to understand the responsibility of driving, and what it entails, and to always drive defensively, it's worth it ... It must be the teacher in me. It's inherently in me that if I'm going to make a difference, I'm going to do it, at whatever cost.' Copyright
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