A Revere High School (RHS) teacher has received an award of excellence at the 2025 convocation with speeches given by his family members.
History teacher Jeff Fry has taught numerous classes over the course of his thirty-four year teaching career. Some of these classes include Advanced Placement American History (APUSH), World History, Sociology and Street Law. He is active with the student body at RHS.
A former student nominated Fry for the award in May of last school year. Fry’s younger brother and principal at Bath Elementary School Dan Fry said that the community nominated him for his teaching efforts.
“[A former student nominated Fry based on] how engaging he was, how passionate he was about the topics that he taught and how [he] was a role model for students,” Dan Fry said.
Every year there are two teachers in the district that earn the Revere Teacher Excellence Award. Along with Jeff Fry, Revere also honored Kindergarten teacher at Revere Elementary School Elizabeth Harig with the award.
Board member Kasha Brackett has attended the convocation for a few years now, and she has an understanding of how the process of earning the award works. The award is sponsored by a former board member Chris Kostoff and his wife Gigi Kostoff.
“[Staff] can get nominations from a wide variety of people. Students can nominate them, parents can nominate them, staff. . . . The Kostoffs . . . go through the district [to] give out an award and have done so for quite a few years,” Brackett said.
Fry did not know that he got the award until the speeches. He was not expecting to get the award, considering there were many other teachers in the district who could have.
“[I found out] during the convocation. . . . My initial reaction was surprise, I was not expecting it,” Jeff Fry said.
When the RHS principal Doug Faris began announcing the award winner, he brought out Dan Fry and Fry’s daughter Colleen Fry, who is a special education teacher at Richfield Elementary School, to continue to announce the recipient of the award.
“It was cool having Mr. Faris’ intro, then having my brother and then my daughter, who are both Revere teachers. . . . [It] was very cool,” Jeff Fry said.
Faris approached Dan Fry about the idea of having them all do the speech as a surprise, and Dan Fry was on board. They had a part where Faris would act as if something went wrong and have Dan Fry help and continue the speech. Dan Fry was appreciative that Faris thought of the idea to include him and Jeff Fry’s daughter.
“[Faris] started reading what the person nominated him for and kind of acted like it was a mistake or something, and he needed [Dan]. . . . I kind of stood up to go up to help him and then I continue[d] where he was at, and I said, “As much as I know him really well, there might be someone that knows me even better than me.” . . . Then Colleen came up and finished the presentation and then introduced Jeff to the [podium], so it was kind of nice to have multiple generations being able to kind of appreciate him and make it special for him,” Dan Fry said.
After Fry received his award, the rest of his family was there to also congratulate him. Fry’s dad was also a guidance counselor at Revere, so there were four Fry teachers in the building.
“[This ceremony] . . . brought three generations of Fry Revere teachers together,” Jeff Fry said.
Dan Fry thought the legacy that his family has made at the RHS community is special and he hopes that it continues for years to come.
“It’s really three generations with four different teachers. . . . There’ll be probably over 100 years of service to the community, which is unheard of. It’s definitely a legacy for sure and hopefully a positive one,” Dan Fry said.
Brackett explained what the convocation is and what happens during it.
“All of the staff—teachers and custodians and everybody—is invited. They come together, and it is like the beginning of the school year for the teachers. It is an all-hands-on-deck meeting . . . and it’s just kind of the kickoff to the start of the year for the staff,” Brackett said.
