{"id":12317,"date":"2022-09-17T17:07:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-17T22:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bluekc.com\/blueprint\/?p=12317"},"modified":"2025-12-18T17:09:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T22:09:02","slug":"2022-blue-kc-sporting-samaritan-honoree-therese-restituto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bluekc.com\/blueprint\/community-and-culture\/sports-partnerships-community-and-culture\/2022-blue-kc-sporting-samaritan-honoree-therese-restituto\/","title":{"rendered":"2022 Blue KC Sporting Samaritan Honoree Therese Restituto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite facing numerous challenges in her personal life, Therese Restituto has always been able to fulfill her passion for teaching in the urban core, where she believes she can make the biggest impact based off her skills and talents. As a high school math teacher at Allen Village Charter School in Kansas City, Missouri, Restituto has focused her entire professional career on helping make a difference in the lives of her students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want my students to enjoy math as much as I do,\u201d said Restituto. \u201cAnybody can be good at math with a little effort, and being good at math can open so many doors for students! In my classroom, I develop a culture where students are supportive of each other and nobody is afraid to make mistakes because they understand that is how you learn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While teaching in a high school setting can provide many challenges on its own, one unexpected event happened to Restituto on September 13, 2019. While in her empty classroom, she suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. She was immediately taken to Saint Luke\u2019s Hospital where she remained for the next month in the neuro ICU. Restituto experienced additional complications while hospitalized, including having to be revived after going into cardiac arrest. She ultimately began the slow road to recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI spent the next several months attending neuro and cardiac rehab and slowly began teaching again,\u201d said Restituto. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be here today without the support and strength of my family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Restituto<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Having battled back from her aneurysm in 2019, Restituto has remained vigilant in the classroom by continuing to show her students the care and compassion they deserve. She\u2019s constructed a culture where everyone is supportive of each other. She believes group work helps students to better learn math because they\u2019re working closely with their peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allen Village opened ten years ago, and Restituto has been teaching at the charter school from the beginning. With so many things to enjoy over the years, she says it\u2019s the people she interacts with on a daily basis that make it such a special place to work and learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe best lesson my parents ever taught me was that I could accomplish whatever I wanted,\u201d said Restituto. \u201cHowever, it was important to discover what made me happy and to invest my time and energy into that. I always tell my students that it\u2019s okay to not know something, but it\u2019s not okay to not try.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restituto believes her students can also achieve anything they set their hearts and minds to but teaches them to understand the necessary hard work and determination that\u2019s needed to help reach those dreams and goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI never settle for less than their best, and I want them to do their best in everything they do,\u201d said Restituto. \u201cI have high expectations for my students because I believe in them, and I want them to have those same expectations for themselves. I want my students to develop confidence in themselves and to be anything that they want to be. I am always willing to help with whatever they need to reach their goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Restituto<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs an educator for over 15 years in the inner city of Kansas City, Missouri, she has left a positive mark in countless young lives,\u201d said Restituto\u2019s nominator, Jeanne Crane. \u201cShe inspires her students with her incredible passion for math. Many of her students have been the first of their family to go to college, and she has been behind every single one, pushing them to excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTherese\u2019s story is remarkable and serves as a reminder to everyone about the importance of living each day to the fullest,\u201d said Christina Lively, Blue KC Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. \u201cWe\u2019re so thankful she has made a full recovery and are inspired by her desire to immediately return to the classroom and continue teaching high school students. It\u2019s Therese\u2019s love for teaching and strengthening the hearts and minds of our youth that represent what the Blue KC Sporting Samaritan program is all about. Congratulations, Therese!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Blue KC supports the Kansas City community through impactful sports partnership programs<\/h3>

Blue KC Sporting Samaritan Program<\/p> <\/div>\n

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