Novi Times

The South Lyon Community Schools recently honored Tyler Willemse as the district's support person of the year.

During a South Lyon Community Schools board meeting, officials were eager to recognize their chosen support person of the year after honoring the teachers of the year at a previous meeting. Willemse was named for his work at South Lyon High School.

The school building engineer and maintenance worker, Willemse is described as always tackling some project or renovation and the go-to person to ask for almost anything that needs to be done.

Principal Jim Brennan gave a recognition speech for Willemse at the May 2 meeting, saying, “He's kind of already the rock of our building. If you ask people who do they know in the building, everybody knows Tyler.”

Brennan mentioned how often Willemse seems to get called to other buildings in the district to help them out with problems. “I would argue Tyler's the most probably the most recognizable person our building far more than myself in terms of who people know," he said.

Board members recalled the time they needed a few stools put into a classroom so that students could reach all areas of the whiteboard. To meet that request, Willemse worked over the weekend to create and place perfectly constructed stools, which were painted blue and gold representing the school colors.

"I'm going to mention Tyler, myself as a parent of students that are in the theater program, and I can only attest to the theater stuff. I'm sure he does everything for everybody else, but if we need an extra table, he's Johnny on the spot. Tyler on the spot comes on and asks us to make sure we have everything that we need," South Lyon board member Jennifer Urtel said at the meeting. "When we used to do the strike dinners in the commons, he'd come in and sit and have dinner with us. And the kids just love Tyler."

Urtel said that appreciation for Willemse is quite widespread in the school community. 

"I personally, as a board member and a parent, want to say thank you for everything that you've done up at the high school. It's very much appreciated. The kids love you, the parents love you, and the booster clubs love you," Urtel said.

South Lyon board member Patrick Maguire joined in honoring Willemse saying, "Just to add, I know we were at the school when you received the award initially and your humility is impressive above and beyond, obviously the kind of person you are, the quality of work that you do and how much we rely on you."