High 5: 90-Year-Old Dedicates Decade To Volunteering At Elementary School

LAYTON, Utah – You’re never too old to start spending your time helping others, and Nate Currier is proof.

The second-graders at Mountain View Elementary School love to learn, and it’s not just Mrs. Fenton’s more than 40 years of experience that makes things run smoothly. It’s also 90-year-old Mr. Currier, who’s been a fixture at the school for the last decade.

“He’s just invaluable because he helps our students,” teacher Mary Fenton said.

She said Currier helps the children with reading and spelling — and many other things as well — all with patience and kindness.

“I used to think it’s pretty hard, but now I’m just zipping through” thanks to Currier’s help, said student Sam Smith.

Currier said he loves to get up in the morning with the goal of helping students. He doesn’t have a background in teaching — he just loves the children. If you talk to any of the students in the class, you’ll learn the feeling is mutual.

“He helps us read,” said student Brooklyn Redd. “I’m really glad that he helps us and volunteers in our class.”

“I think it’s really fun when he comes into the room,” noted student Owen Udall. “He just has a really big smile on his face.”

“I’m really joyful when I just go over there with him,” he added.

Currier said he’d rather be spending these hours in the classroom than doing something else.

“Because these are my kids,” he said. “These are your kids. Every second grader for the last 10 years have been my kids.”

Fenton is retiring after this year, and Currier has decided to do the same.

To thank him for volunteering his time for Utah’s students, we’re honoring him with a KSL High 5 — along with a $250 gift from America First Credit Union.

“We really don’t know what we’d do without him,” Fenton said. “I hope at his age, 90, I’m as active and helpful with the community as he has been.”