- [Kelly] All right everybody, we are back
and I'm with my fellow Voice coaches:
John, Nick, and Blake, give it up!
(clapping)
- [Nick] Yeah!
- Cheering for ourselves, it's like-
- [John] We're cheering for each other.
- Yes, exactly.
Um in the past year of craziness, and contingencies,
so many unsung heroes have risen to the top,
my next guest says the love
of his life has gone above and beyond
as a wife, a mama and a teacher.
Now he's here with their kids to let her know how
much gratitude they have for all she does.
Please welcome Alan, eighteen year old Nathan,
seven year old Caitlin,
and five-year-old Ashton.
What's up y'all?
- [Family] Hello, hi Kelly!
- Hi, you can say hi to the coaches as well,
if you want to say hi...
- [Nick] Hi!
- What's up Nick? John, Blake! How're you guys doing?
- We're doing better now that you're here,
I love, I love this story, I love,
it's such a beautiful thing you're doing for your wife
but can you tell us Alan, a little more about Melissa?
- [Alan] Yeah, we uh, we're actually a blended family,
we have 5 kids.
Um, we met, probably 13 years ago.
And, like I knew immediately, you know, we met online
we talked over the phone for a little bit,
and then after a couple of days we got together
and just immediately seeing her, the love in her heart
she wears it on her sleeve all day long
especially with her, her students and everything.
That's, that's why they love her so much.
- Teachers have the patience of Job.
So yeah, I mean, they've all got really good hearts.
All right, well, Caitlin, you go
to the same school where your mom teaches, right?
What's that like?
- I like it because I get to spend time with her,
and I get to see her every time when the day's over.
- Oh, that's awesome.
I used to hang out in my mama's room after school too
and hang out in her room until she was done.
I love that. I felt cool. And I played teacher.
Um, which I should never be one.
But Nathan, what makes, what makes your mama the best?
- My mom's the best because she's very supportive, you know
with COVID going around this past year, I had to
spend my senior year online and during zoom
and my future passion is to be an artist and she's always
pushing me forward to draw and making me feel more confident
about the stuff that I do.
And hopefully one day I can be success and it's all to her.
Cause she's my biggest fan.
- I love that. And there's nothing better man
than a supportive parent.
That's a beautiful thing, especially for a creative person
'cause most parents are like, please get a real job.
That's what we were all told.
So Alan, tell us about the challenges that Melissa's faced
as a teacher this school year,
I think all of us
with children know that teachers have had it really hard.
- Yeah. I mean, with COVID that went around
and everything you go from being in class to, she had a
they had a two week crash course that they had
to go virtual.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- [Alan] So it's been a huge challenge.
And just her connecting
with the students has been really hard.
I mean, she goes out of her way.
She works at a cha chapter one, you know, charter school,
and a lot of the families that are low income.
So she does everything she can to just kind of
teach the kids respect and how to gain their confidence
and make them stronger throughout the year.
You know, she has a cabinet full
of lunches and breakfast and snacks and she's bought kids
school uniforms and everything that she can just
because that's her heart, you know, that's who she is.
And they all love her for it.
- That's awesome.
She reminds me of my mother, you telling those stories
we actually had to do remote coaching, like, and a lot
of remote things this year, it's hard.
And you said, I think of a word that kind of is
it means everything. The connection part.
I think that's the hardest part.
You can't connect with people when you're that remote,
did y'all feel that and like rehearsals?
- The physical distance is still weird.
'Cause we're not even technically
supposed to give them hugs now,
we're not supposed to, like when they go home
you can't like comfort them when you
when you want to congratulate them.
It's like so many, so many aspects
of our life revolve around being able to touch somebody
and be close to somebody.
And what we've seen the most this year is how
important we say, folks are essential workers.
We talk about nurses, and teachers,
and people in the medical community.
Other people that are
that make our entire country work, our entire society work.
And we've got to make sure we show them the appreciation
that they deserve because literally they are essential
and we ought to be so grateful to them
for persisting and persevering through all these challenges
and doing their best for our young people.
- [Kelly] Yeah, Agreed.
Before the break, Alan, Nathan, Catilin,
and Ashton were telling us a little about Melissa,
how she's an incredible wife, mama and teacher.
And now we actually have Melissa joining the conversation.
So Melissa, Alan told us a little
about you as a teacher, since you can't meet, you know
all your kids in person, how do you stay connected?
- [Melissa] Oh, wow. So I teach about 160 kids and
you know, every day I wake up,
how am I going to reach these kids today?
That's like the first thing in my mind
how am I going to reach them today?
What am I going to teach them today?
You know, my goal as a teacher,
you know, I teach them math,
but I also try to teach them to be good people.
And, and, and that's been my goal, you know
since I've started teaching 18 years ago and you know
it's one of the hardest things through a screen.
You, you, you doubt yourself,
but there's one particular day,
I was, I was doing a tutoring session and I got this kid,
he comes in to zoom and he is bubbly and happy and loud.
And sometimes he gets that mute button.
So I like to use that on him.
He gives me the look, you know, but this particular day, he
he didn't really come and say anything
and I could just tell he was off.
And so I asked him, I said, hey, what's going on?
And you know, he told me
that his grandma had passed away the day before.
And um, so we all, it takes it out of you.
And, you know, we took a moment.
I started crying.
Some of the other students started crying
and we all just kind of had a little cry fest in zoom,
and then, you know, we, I told him I loved him
and that if I could come
through that screen and give him a hug, I would right there.
And we took a moment of silence for his grandma.
And then I said, are you ready to get to work?
He's like, yes, ma'am.
So, you know, we got to work
and I pretty much made the whole lesson about him.
I, I let him pick, you know, the games we're going to play
and the activities and, you know, we got done.
And at the end, all the kids were leaving the zoom
and he stuck around and afterwards he said Miss. Rogers?
I was like, yeah.
And he said, thank you.
I really needed that today.
I had a lot of fun.
- Awe, it's such a beautiful thing.
And it seems like such a simple thing to you, but you know
it meant the world to him.
That's a really beautiful thing that you did for him.
It's clear that Melissa's students love her
and that her family loves her as well.
So in fact, they're all very thankful.
(thankful music)
So Alan, you have something that you want to say
to Melissa, go ahead and go for it, man.
- Okay. I want you to know
that you have made me a better man,
a better father, and just a better person in general
by the love that you have the heart that you have just
I was a very selfish person before we met.
And you've, you've shown me how to grow
and how to be a better person.
And lead by example.
I couldn't have asked for a better partner in life.
So sorry.
You're you're my, everything.
I love you with all of my being
- Awe, I love you too. Thank you.
- Hey Nathan, you want to say anything, man?
- Yeah. So mom, I can see all of the
hard work you're doing to, for your students and for us,
and just want to say that I'm really proud of you
and everything that you do, and I'm proud to be your son.
So thank you.
- Well, this has been a tough year
and I know that you have all missed
out on some special celebrations as a family,
so I have some good news.
We are going to send you, all of you
to Universal Orlando Resorts,
three incredible theme parks, Universal Studios, Florida
Universal's Volcano Bay, and also Universal's Island
of Adventure where you can feel the rush
of the hunts on the new Jurassic World, Velocicoaster,
which I really want to ride.
It's opening June 10th.
This ride is seriously
a new species of roller coasters, you'll board
your vehicle for a high-speed dash
through the parks, velociraptor, paddock
and race alongside these fierce predators.
I will totally be singing while that's happening.
Plus, y'all stay steps away
from the fun at Universal's Cabana Bay Beach Resort
just to chill out by the pool.
Um, are y'all excited?
- [Family] Yeah!
- It was a lot to tell you about, so I know I'm telling you
about a lot, but I love going there.
I'm actually going there this summer
with my family for like a week.
So I'm very excited for y'all.
It's just such a fun place for every member of the family.
Well, thank you so much, Melissa, for all you do, truly.
We always say, you know, to lift up teachers
we were seeing this pre pandemic
because I am a teacher's daughter and I know the sacrifice
not only for your own life, but also
to your own family and finding that balance is very hard.
So we really appreciate you and your whole family
for the support that they've been doing for you as well.
That's it's a really beautiful thing.