Whenever teacher Donnie Lucente is asked to help out his school, his immediate response is "Anything for the Dever," said Vivian Swoboda, principal at Paul A. Dever Elementary School in Dorchester.
"If there's ever anything he could do that would help the school community, he'd do it," Swoboda said.
Lucente, a Waltham resident who has been teaching at Dever Elementary School for 10 years in the Learning Adaptive Behavior program, received a Boston Educator of the Year award on June 8.
"I try to make it a place I enjoy going every day, so if it's something that's going to help the school, I want to do it," Lucente said about the school. "I love going to work every day."
Swoboda nominated Lucente for the award.
"He is someone who knows his students as unique learners and is able to differentiate his instructions to help each and every child be successful," Swoboda said. "He believes in an inclusive school community."
Lucente found out he was nominated six weeks ago, and he heard he had won three weeks ago.
"I was uncomfortable, but I was honored at the same time," he said.
Lucente said the Learning Adaptive Behavior program teaches students who are diagnosed with social and behavioral disorders.
He said such a program is an unusual asset to a public elementary school.
"That's the biggest appeal to me for the school," he said.
Lucente teaches in a classroom with eight students and a paraprofessional. Learning Adaptive Behavior focuses on helping its students build their social skills and manage their own behavior.
While this program is Lucente's biggest draw to the school, he said the Dorchester school's diversity and its location on a peninsula in Boston Harbor are other reasons he loves his job.
"I think one of the reasons I was recognized is that I've done this for 10 years," Lucente said. "I'm motivated by the position, I like the position."
In a program with four teachers, Lucente said he has seen 20 different people fill those positions over 10 years.
"People talk about being burned out and ask me, 'How are you not burned out by these kids?' I love it. I don't know exactly what's going to happen every day."
Within the entire school, Lucente has contributed his time through his creation of the Wellness Council, served as the liaison to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters program, and his creation of a school basketball team.
Lucente formed the Wellness Council at Dever in collaboration with former president Bill Clinton's national Healthy Schools Program.
"The kids needed to be more physically active," Lucente said. "Diet was huge, getting fruits and vegetables into the school." The focus of the program this year was on educating students about what they put into their bodies, he said. Next year, he plans to increase before- and after-school programs that promote physical activity.
A graduate 1993 of Waltham High, Lucente said he has been inspired by much of his work in the Waltham community, as well.
His role as a Big Brother led him to take on the responsibilities of the Dever's liaison between families and children and the organization. His enjoyment of coaching basketball in Waltham gave him and another teacher the idea to start a basketball team at the elementary school.
Still, Lucente has integrated the importance of an academic education with the other activities for students.
"It wasn't just basketball ... It's also respect, how are you representing yourself and the Dever school, as well," he noted.
Lucente's passion for educating needy children seems to be deep-seated. As a high-school student, he worked in the Prospect Terrace Children's Center in Waltham, the Waltham YMCA and the Waltham Boys and Girls Club, where he now coaches the boys' swim team one of the achievements of which he says he is most proud.
