SPRINGDALE, Ark. — An alternative education award will now carry the name of Springdale educator Jeremy Butler.
At the 2024 Alternative Education Leadership Day, educators created the Jeremy Butler True GRIT Award with Butler's namesake because they believe he exemplifies what the award was created to recognize. The award recognizes youth for their achievements and overcoming adversity.
Butler presented the first-ever True GRIT Award to Arkadelphia student Romello Lawson on Feb. 13.
Butler is a special education teacher at Hellstern Middle School. The educator has travelled to dozens of schools telling his story to help encourage students. His upbringing is that of hardship and overcoming adversity.
"I grew up in Tontitown," Butler said. "I grew up in a house with trauma. And I was abused as a kid, and I took it out at school, I took it out on my teachers, my peers. I was not a great kid, not a great student."
Having gone to a juvenile detention center many times and having trouble in school, Butler had dropped out of Springdale High School before graduating. Butler lives in Tontitown now and says it is difficult to drive by his childhood home, the origin of many of his issues.
"I don't even look at the house because it just, I just don't even want to think about it," Butler said.
Everything in Butler's life was tumbling down until he approached alternative education. Butler attended Archer Learning Center (ALE) where Tim Weiss was the principal.
"I think many times what young people they lose connection, you know, whether their family splits up or they have legal issues or drug issues," Weiss said.
Weiss believed in creating a connection with students and having educators show they truly cared for their students. Weiss would make sure every student was greeted at the door. He said he would spend most of his time with students and teachers rather than in his office. He tried to make sure every student was fed and had time to talk by cooking breakfast for them a couple of times a week. They also introduced musical instruments to the students.
"From that point, I realized that there was more to life than just I don't know, failing, I guess you could say. So from there, my life dramatically changed in a great way," Butler said of his time at Archer.
Butler received his GED in 2005. By 2006, he joined the military. With no way to afford college, Butler joined the Army because they're the only office that was open at 7 p.m. on the night he made the decision.
On Butler's first tour in Iraq, he experienced a traumatic brain injury that would affect the rest of his military career. While Weiss kept in contact with him during his deployment, he said that Butler's barracks had been bombed. On Butler's return to Arkansas, Weiss brought him to ALE and honored him for his efforts.
Butler continued his career in the military for nearly a decade.
"It's ironic that a few years earlier, I was in the juvenile detention center, and then ended up having people rely on me with their lives," Butler said. "It's absolutely insane."
Toward the end of Butler's career, he met his future in a Washington coffee shop.
"I did some good things while I was in the Army, but my wife knew that there was more for me to do," Butler said.
Butler's wife encouraged him to become a special education teacher— turning trouble into teaching.
"He's had pain, he's had real pain in his life. And he's overcome it with the help of others, but he had to make that decision if that's one thing a young person has got to understand," Weiss said
"Doesn't matter where you've been in life, what you've been through, you are responsible for you, and you make your own decisions, and you determine your own destiny," Butler said.
Butler says one day, he would like to make it full circle and become an alternative learning environment teacher.
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