Edina students give deploying teacher a surprise send-off

Operation Surprise Mr. Hoffman was already underway at 0900 hours Friday when the ninth-graders at Valley View Middle School in Edina marched into the gymnasium.

Moments later the pep fest began with a message to the commander-in-chief, aka Principal Shawn Dudley.

"Sierra Delta, this is Pigeon. We're ready for takeoff. Over," freshman Margaret Kajer shouted into her walkie-talkie.

A muffled voice answered back: "10-4. I have the target."

The lights dimmed. The room went silent.

At last, math teacher Chris Hoffman appeared in the doorway, sporting a fresh buzz cut.

"Surprise!" yelled the crowd of students who filled the gym. Hoffman's face turned red as he strode in and greeted the throng, which included his tearful family.

The original plan: retirement from the military after 21 years of service in the U.S. Air Force, Air Force Reserves and Air National Guard.

The new plan: Postpone it for one last mission, this time as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in Southwest Asia.

He's not coming back until August.

"I'd do this over and over again, being of service," he told the crowd.

Multiple deployments have become more common for military members with jobs such as Hoffman's, said Capt. Ann Todd, a spokeswoman for the 133rd Airlift Wing of the Minnesota Air National Guard. He's a master sergeant with Minnesota Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Squadron and a flight engineer aboard C-130 transport aircraft.

"The service is in their blood. It's hard to watch other people go. You feel like you're missing something if you're not part of it," she said.

On Friday at the school gym, the broad-shouldered man with the boyish face joked about having a Brett Favre moment. When asked whether this will be his last deployment, he hesitated. Then he slowly nodded.

Role model

"I love serving in the military and I love flying," he said, his eyes shining. "It's the adventure of a lifetime. But it all really boils down to service."

Serving his country, serving his fellow Reserve members, and serving his students, too, as a role model.

A stickler for details, he's also known at school for his sense of humor. He once showed up at a pep fest dressed like the school mascot: a green hornet, with green tights and all.

At Friday's pep fest, the students emceeing the event donned navy blue "Team Hoffman" T-shirts and pored over the scripts they'd carefully prepared.

As faculty adviser for their student leadership group, Hoffman taught them how to run a successful pep fest. Little did he know that on his last day of school, his charges would use those tactics on him.

Had a hunch

"Call it teacher intuition," Hoffman said later of an inkling he had that students were up to something.

Sitting in the front row of the school gym were Hoffman's mother, two sisters, a brother-in-law and two nieces.

His mother, Sarah Hoffman, dabbed her eyes with a crumpled tissue as she listened to speeches from students, staff members and finally, her son.

A video played of people from around the school sharing their favorite stories about "Dean Hoffman," last year's ninth-grade dean of students.

Four students performed a dance routine, complete with push-ups and a salute to their beloved teacher.

Hoffman was presented with a school utility cart full of gifts, including chocolates for his well known sweet tooth and a "unit circle cake" to remind him that he's always an "Edina cake-eater," the students said, and because the unit circle is something he taught them in math class.

He also received a book of "Hoffman memories," anecdotes and tidbits composed by students to help him through any rough deployment times.

Todd, who talked to Hoffman after the pep fest, said, "He just seemed very humbled by this whole thing. It's really touched him that the kids did this for him."

The surprise had been months in the making, Principal Dudley said, as a way to thank Hoffman for his military service and send him off in style.

He has said that the staff at Valley View is like his family, and "we wanted him to know that his family supports him," she said.

Addressing him at the rally, Dudley said: "We know that you will be a long ways away, but you will never be far from us, because we will be thinking of you and holding you in our hearts."

"Come home safe, Mr. Hoffman ... see you in August!"