Four K-12 teachers to be honored
The inaugural Dartmouth Prize for Exceptional Teaching: A Celebration of
Outstanding Elementary and Secondary Education, will be awarded this year at Commencement to Chris
Richards of the Belmont Hill School, Belmont, Mass.; Evelyn
Gates of the Paul Horn Academy in Houston, Texas; Jim
Cocoros of Stuyvesant High School in New York City (formerly of
Sheepshead Bay High School in Brooklyn, N.Y.); and Swati
Sharma of Manchester Memorial High School in Manchester, N.H. The four
teachers were all nominated by former students who will graduate on June 10 as
members of Dartmouth's Class of 2007.
In November 2006 seniors were invited to nominate an influential teacher
from kindergarten through 12th grade. A nine-person committee made up of
students, faculty, and administrators reviewed the name-blind nominations and
selected the four honorees who will attend Commencement this year. Each teacher
will also receive $3,000 as well as a $2,500 award for his or her school.
President James
Wright, who supported the program and made possible its inclusion in the
Commencement ceremony, says, "By honoring teachers, Dartmouth has an
opportunity to reward not only the extraordinary efforts of individual teachers
who have made a difference to their students, but also to call attention to the
profession in general." The Offices of the President and the Provost are
jointly funding the program.
Chris Richards
Swati Sharma
Jim Cocoros
Evelyn Gates
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Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia, who helped spearhead the initiative,
adds, "As someone who began her career as a high school teacher, I'm so
pleased that this award demonstrates how much we value teaching, learning, and
helping students reach their potential. I work with such incredible students,
and this award allows us to recognize some of the people who helped get them
here."
Jay Davis,
instructor in the Department of Education and supervisor of the Secondary
Teacher Education Program, chaired the prize and selection committees. "We
left it open to individual committee members to decide what criteria they would
use," says Davis. "We did ask that they consider which teachers they
would have most wanted to have themselves, or for their children, and we
ensured we had diversity in ages taught, subjects taught, geography, and type
of school."
Richards was nominated by Jonathan Kroft '07, who says of
his former Latin teacher, rowing coach, and mentor, "I was, by all
estimates, a sub-par student, but Mr. Richards took an active role in my
education, not allowing me to slip through the cracks, and my grades reflected
his effort as I made the honor roll by the end of my first year, and after
that, each year made the high honor roll."
Sharma was nominated by her former high school mathematics
student Dieu-Thi Nguyen '07. Nguyen, a first-generation Vietnamese American and
the first in her family to attend college, was recently accepted to Dartmouth
Medical School. She says that Sharma "fosters a dynamic classroom
environment—one in which each student feels comfortable taking risks, asking
questions, and seeking help."
Cocoros, formerly an attorney, was nominated by Alana Bond
'07. Bond, describing her former Sheepshead Bay High School mathematics teacher
"Mr. C" in her nomination essay, wrote that Cocoros, "taught me
many things. He taught me about statistics, outdated geometric theorems, sums
of infinite series, dangling participles, the hypocrisy of Supreme Court
decisions; but more importantly, he taught me about compassion and the
unequaled value of education." Bond is earning her teaching certification
in Dartmouth's Teacher Education
Program.
Gates was nominated by Rachel Hamilton '07. Gates joined
the teaching profession after the 1980s Texas oil bust ended her career in
corporate accounting. "It was," says Hamilton, "Texaco's loss,
our gain. Ms. Gates was born to teach. Her love of kids, as well as math and
spelling, made us excited about learning." Gates was Hamilton's
kindergarten teacher.
The idea for the program grew out of a June 2005 New York Times
column by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas L. Friedman, in which he
praised Williams College's Olmsted Prize for Excellence in Secondary School
Teaching. Since 1984, Williams has honored four secondary school teachers with
a cash prize and recognition at commencement.
Dartmouth's award recognizes secondary as well as elementary school
teachers. The idea for the program was suggested by faculty, students, and
alumni and was enthusiastically received by the administration. Professor of
Computer Science Hany Farid says, "Dartmouth prides itself on its
dedication to teaching. This is a way for us to highlight the importance
teaching plays in our students' lives long before they get to campus."
Hannah Burzynski '07, who sat on the planning committee to develop the award
and plans to go into elementary education after graduation, says, "I've
found that people think K-12 educators have an 'easy' job that somehow involves
less intellectual rigor and deserves less respect than careers in medicine,
finance, or law. In reality, our primary and secondary educators share the
responsibility for shaping us into the people we are—people who can participate
positively and intelligently in a changing world. I am so grateful that an
award has been established that recognizes the tremendous debt that we owe to
these passionate, selfless professionals."
Faculty wishing to get involved in the future with the project may email Holly Sateia.
By GENEVIEVE HAAS
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