An act of kindness turned into $10,000 for a former Richland teacher

In 1977, one phone call helped shape a boy’s life.

When Shannon Houtrouw joined the Richland High School cross country team he expected to work, but he didn’t expect it to be so hard.

He was in the middle of a run, when he decided to quit and go home.

Coach Michael Mills was concerned about the new runner, and, not knowing about Houtrouw’s decision, he called the boy.

“Too chicken to tell him I’d quit after one practice; I assured him I wouldn’t make that mistake again,” Houtrouw wrote about his former coach and math teacher.

The phone call, the decision to stay and the relationship that formed afterward left an impression that endured roughly 40 years, and led Houtrouw to nominate Mills for a Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award in 2017

Mills, a retiree after 30 years at Richland High School, was one of 10 teachers who won the award, which comes with a $10,000 prize, this year. The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts created the award in honor of the composer’s 80th birthday.

Seventy-one teachers have won the award since its creation in 2010.

“It’s something that I’m going cherish for the rest of my life,” Mills said.

While the phone call hooked Houtrouw into continuing his cross-country and track career, it was what happened later in the year that left the largest impression on him.

As one of six children, the teen’s family didn’t have a lot of money, and a $35 pair of training shoes was a luxury they couldn’t afford. Houtrouw saved the money from his paper route, and put it in his locker.

Before he could pay Mills for the shoes, someone swiped the cash from the youth’s locker.

“I was devastated. I told Mills what happened, fearing I would have to quit. He told me he would figure something out,” Houtrouw wrote in his nomination.

When he walked into Mills’ office, the coach arranged for a senior runner to give Houtrouw a pair of his shoes.

“I resolved in that moment that no matter how tough the workouts got, no matter how many injuries I sustained, I would finish that season,” Houtrouw said.

And he did. Then he did another season. When he left Richland High School, he ended up in the teaching profession. His success in Kalamazoo, Mich., as a computer science teacher made him think about the instructors who influenced him, and he thought about the shoes.

Other things Mills did left an impression on Houtrouw, such as shirts that the coach gave as incentives for practicing, and a trip that he arranged to Edmonds to take the boys to a meet.

“I had 500-mile club T-shirts,” Mills said. “Anyone who made it to 500 miles during practices or meets, they earned the shirt.”

Houtrouw, a finalist for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, has been called one of the best high school computer science teachers in the nation.

He carried forward the tradition with “Code Warrior” shirts for his computer science teams.

Mills is uncertain about how he will use the $10,000 he won, but one idea is to fund a scholarship at Eastern Washington University to help train the next generation of teachers.

“Teachers are important and they represent an important part of the community,” Mills said. “I got that help from Eastern when I applied and went there. It’s a way for me to give back to them.”

This story was originally published March 24, 2017 at 8:14 PM with the headline "An act of kindness turned into $10,000 for a former Richland teacher."