Fossil Ridge High School teacher Scott DeVries did not always predict he would become the man he is today.

DeVries has become one of the top teachers in the nation. This success is measurable by his receiving of the Milken Award while teaching at Preston Middle School in 1999.

The Milken Award is sponsored by the Milken Family Foundation, and has honored many teachers for what they have achieved, and for what they promise to do in the future. DeVries, like the other award recipients, drew attention to himself with his efficiency in the classroom.

The Milken Family foundation searches all over the nation to find teachers that meet the strict criteria that lead them to be applicable for the award.

DeVries recollects receiving the award as one of his proudest moments as a teacher. He credits this feeling to his students. “It wasn’t about the money or the fame. It’s about the students,” he said. “And the fact that they found me, out of all the teachers in the nation,… It was awesome.”

Upon being presented with the award at a school-wide assembly, DeVries received a standing ovation, which he said was immediate. “It wasn’t a slow ‘one by one’ ovation; it was like a spontaneous response.”

So how does a man earn such an ovation? 

In earlier years, DeVries did not see himself on a stage in front of his school receiving a teaching award, or behind a desk teaching social studies. “I wanted to be a lawyer, and my dad wanted me to be a lawyer, too.”

However, while in college, DeVries spent an ample amount of time volunteering at an elementary school. This experience exploited his rising passion for teaching. He says his dad was not disappointed in this decision. “My dad always told us that we needed to do something we wanted to do, and we needed to do something that helps other people.”

DeVries ran with his drive to teach, that eventually led him to be the honorary guest of a Milken award assembly. He claims it was his commitment that got him the award.

The commitment DeVries has developed for reaching success with his students is the result of the way his father taught him he was expected to live. “My dad taught me and my brothers to be as independent as possible. And that we should be able to do everything on our own…” he said. “When we were younger, we had to work for everything.”

This is the main problem DeVries identifies within the current generation of high school students. Throughout his 31 years of teaching, DeVries has noticed a significant decline in the work ethic presented by his students. “I don’t blame it on the students. I blame it on the parents,” he said. “Now that’s nothing against them, necessarily, but I don’t think that parents make their kids work as hard as they possibly can.”

DeVries sees it as his own responsibility to light the fire for education that many students may fail to get at home. “Every day I get fired up about my job. Every single morning, for 31 years.”

He carries this responsibility through every year, as he leads a group of students to Washington D.C. to visit the various memorials and government buildings that help to shape what our nation has become. “I’ve been going to D.C. for 25 years now, and I’ve taken over 2,000 students.”

DeVries did not nominate himself to be the annual chaperone for the trip. However, when he saw that nobody else was willing to step up to the task, he was going to do whatever it took to make sure that his students were given the experience of the Washington D.C. trip.

“I like to go, but I like to go because the kids like to go… I mean you can only be amazed by the Washington Memorial so many times.”