This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Pam Hansen has a rule for her second-graders: They are not allowed to say, "I can't do this."
Hansen has been motivating students to stretch their brains and push themselves to excel for 28 years at Murray's Viewmont Elementary.
She began her career 30 years ago as a kindergarten teacher in Logan. She didn't intend to go into education, instead studying civil engineering at Brigham Young University in the late 1970s, when few women pursued the vocation. Although she loved math and thought engineering would suit her passion, something didn't feel right.
"I always enjoyed being around young kids, and I knew as a teacher I would have goals for my students," she said.
Hansen made the decision to switch to elementary education and to seek an early-childhood endorsement at Utah State University. "I knew it was what I wanted to do."
After teaching kindergarten, where her focus was on helping students learn basics such as sitting on a chair, she was excited to move on to first, then second grade, where she could teach reading and writing. It quickly became more than work.
"This isn't just a job, it's a hobby," she said. "It isn't the thing when I go home I forget about it."
Hansen is always trying to come up with new ideas to integrate into the curriculum, partly because she wants her students to get the most out of school and partly because she doesn't want her teaching to become a routine.
"I'm not content with doing the same things each year," she said. "The kids are always changing, and I'm always learning."
Principal Margaret Young called Hansen an "icon" at Viewmont because of her knowledge of education and the school's culture and history.
"She has such high expectations," Young said. "She is very clear with the students about what she expects, and she makes the kids feel secure and confident."