The Mesick community is mourning the loss of a beloved teacher after she passed away suddenly Saturday.
Sarah Esper was a math teacher at Mesick Junior Senior High School and was also a teacher at Traverse City Area Public Schools.
Esper passed way Saturday after going into cardiac arrest while watching the high school basketball state finals at the Breslin Center. The Principal of Mesick’s Junior Senior High School, Scott Morey, says she made a ‘big positive’ impact in Mesick and was loved by both staff and students.
“In the short time she was with us she did an excellent job developing relationships with our kids and with our community and other teachers she was always happy and positive and ready with a joke and a smile and she could really peoples day just by being around,” Morey shares.
Morey says her personality was infectious and she had a lasting impact on her students.
“She was there to help [students] through hard times and joke with them in the uneasy times and as far as her teaching concerned she really cared about helping students understand the content. She was always thinking about school and her students and she would do anything for anyone all you had to do was ask,” Morey states.
Although the school is on spring break, the school counselor and the District Health Department 10 have made themselves available for students this week who may need additional support. The school is also working with the Critical Stress Management Team that’s comprised of local mental health experts to come up with a plan for when students return to school Monday.
“Mesick is a supportive and tight knit community, and as difficult as this is, I know we’ll be able to work together and make it through,” Morey says.
