Monday, Feb. 18th will mark the annual celebration of the legacy of the previous presidents of the United States and a day off for West students. Originally, President’s Day was meant to represent the recognition of President George Washington, but the holiday later became known as President’s Day. This was after the date was moved due to the 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act. Today, people celebrate President’s Day to reflect on the accomplishments of previous presidents, as well as honoring the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Ronald Reagan and many others.

While West teachers don’t have a day off this year, some teachers in the Social Studies department are still keeping in mind the purpose of President’s Day by recognizing their favorite presidents and their reasonings behind them.

Joseph Edwards: Franklin D. Roosevelt, even though there were some things that he did like Japanese Internment that were really bad, he helped to create a modern version of federal government in which there have been programs created to protect people. In the long run I believe that’s been really good, [for example,] the protections provided by the New Deal.

Matthew Wiemer: FDR, because of the New Deal, the fact that he was elected four times, and I think he did a lot to expand the role of the executive branch and the federal government. He also redefined what the government owes to its citizens in the United States.

Jason Stanford: Barack Obama, he did a good job creating the affordable care act and provided health care to as many people as possible.

Jordan Parrat: I would have to go with FDR just because he’s done so much for the nation and he proved his worth getting elected four times, and obviously he didn’t get to serve out his fourth term, but there are also many reasons that were listed before by other colleagues that can sum up how he was such a great president.

Joeseph Meyer: Abraham Lincoln, he was humble, he was decisive and he saved the nation.

Angela Tzortzis: My favorite is FDR, he helped the United States recover, he had good leadership, he also had a strong and very powerful wife who he allowed to lead as well.