SLU Students Named Outstanding Beginning Teachers
Brittany Holt and Alex Schenk received Outstanding Beginning Teacher Awards from the Missouri Association of Colleges for Teacher Education at their spring conference
Holt is currently teaching first grade at Bayless Elementary School and Schenk is teaching mathematics and computer science at the Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience.
The Missouri Association of Colleges for Teacher Education is a state affiliate of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) and serves as the voice for educator preparation programs across the state.
The Outstanding Beginning Teacher Awards recognize teachers in their first two years of service who demonstrate excellence in serving children in school districts across Missouri.
Fifty-nine of the approximately 8,000 teachers who were certified in the last two years were given engraved glass apples for their dedication and service to Missouri’s schools and communities. Award recipients were selected based on recommendations from Missouri’s state and nationally recognized teacher education programs, and a recommendation from candidates’ school districts.
The ceremony was held at the Columbia Conference Center in Columbia, Missouri, and was hosted by MACTE president Diana Rogers-Adkinson, Ph.D., MACTE president-elect and SLU education professor Alexander Cuenca, Ph.D., and members of the MACTE Executive Board.
Awardees were challenged to continue their work by creating fair classrooms through a pedagogy of care in a professional development session conducted by Lauren Arend, (Ph.D.), professor of education at Saint Louis University, and to be stalwarts for democratic thought during the keynote address by Julian Vasquez-Heilig, Ph.D., professor of educational leadership at California State Sacramento.
MACTE recognizes the contribution of these fine teachers, as well as all of our excellent, highly qualified teachers throughout Missouri's who serve and educate our students.