The Baltimore Ravens presented the M&T Bank Touchdown for Teachers Award to Kenwood High School's Andrew Goldbeck on Monday for his outstanding service to his school community.

"It was pretty exciting," said Goldbeck. "I didn't really believe it for a few seconds there."

Students gathered in the school auditorium for what they were told was a special assembly during fourth period. 

Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith made a guest appearance at the assembly and presented Goldbeck with a custom jersey and a $5,000 grant to help further his work in the community.

"It's amazing to see the type of impact that he's made in so many different students' lives and to see the way they celebrate him," Smith said. "I just speak from experience, you know, there are many teachers that I've had throughout my childhood and high school who taught me things in life that you'll never quite forget."

Students were given passes to attend the assembly, which is typically Goldbeck's job to write.

However, Kenwood principal Kate Smith kept it a secret.

"She lied to me a little bit, but it's OK," Goldbeck said.  "It's fun. It's exciting and just shows that a lot of the things that we've done to move our school forward a little bit are working."

This is the 12th year that the Ravens and M&T Bank have given the award. 

School community leader

Goldbeck has led the charge in moving the Kenwood community and school forward. 

In his first year at Kenwood as the community school facilitator, Goldbeck introduced numerous community programs, including a monthly food drive that has served over 450 students and staff. He has facilitated the distribution of over 3,000 clothing items and 500 hygiene products to community members in need.

Maybe one of the most impactful initiatives that Goldbeck established this year was a free-of-charge laundromat at the school to serve its homeless families.

"In our community, there are almost 80 students that we serve who are homeless," Goldbeck said. "You don't realize how much it can be expensive to get laundry service if there's a family of four living in a hotel room."

It's a program that Goldbeck hopes to be able to expand in the future.

When asked what he's been most proud of this year, Goldbeck said it's the way they've been able to change the narrative surrounding the Kenwood community.

"I've had so many conversations where the narrative of our school was negative, and I've had to change that conversation over and over again," Goldbeck said. "The majority of our kids are good kids who do the right thing, and those [kids] don't have a voice.  So, when I go out and I'm talking to people, I'm going to represent them and tell [business and community leaders] like, 'no, you might have seen something negative about our school, but that is not every kid in our building. We have good kids.'"