Twenty years of honoring excellent educators
By Rick Peterson
Lawrence Today magazine, Fall 2005
They have made the trip to the Lawrence campus from some of the state’s
biggest cities, smallest towns, and locales in between. A few had only to hop
across town, while some traveled
hours to get here, arriving from distinctly Wisconsin places like Waunakee
and Wausau, Marshfield and Minocqua. Their entire visit typically encompasses
less than 48 hours, yet their impact can influence a generation or more. And,
while their scholarly interests span the spectrum, they share a distinct commonality.
They are among the very best at what they do: teaching high school.
Author and educator William Arthur Ward once said, “The mediocre teacher
tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great
teacher inspires.”
Based on Ward’s definition, for the past 20 years Appleton has been a
June destination for great secondary-school teachers. They come at the request
of, and as guests of, Lawrence, in order that the college can publicly and
sincerely say, “Thank you!” Through its Award for Outstanding Teaching
in Wisconsin, Lawrence annually honors the contributions of high school teachers
who have inspired members of the college’s graduating class.
“We’re dependent upon the good work of these teachers to provide
us with exceptional
students,” says Stewart Purkey, associate professor of education and
the Bee Connell Mielke Professor of Education. “Without excellent teachers
at the secondary level such as those we recognize, our task would be immeasurably
more difficult.”
When Lawrence launched its teacher-award program in 1985, it was in relatively
select company among institutions nationally that had the foresight to recognize
the importance of high school teachers. Today, dozens of colleges and universities
have followed Lawrence’s footsteps in honoring exceptional educators,
with programs running the gamut from Clark University’s Outstanding Secondary
Educator Award to the University of Minnesota’s Impact Award for Distinguished
Teaching.
Motivated by a desire to recognize the contributions of high school teachers
and supported by an endowment established by an anonymous donor, Lawrence has
honored 44 teachers — 31 men, 13 women — since the program’s
inception. (While just two teachers are normally recognized each year, on two
occasions three teachers were presented the award.)
Recipients, chosen by a committee from nominations submitted by Lawrence seniors,
attend a dinner with the president and other dignitaries the night before Commencement
and a luncheon afterward. During Commencement ceremonies, they don black robes
and sit on the stage among the day’s guests of honor. Each receives a
certificate, a citation, and a monetary award.
“This is a very public recognition,” says Purkey. “The teachers
participate fully in Commencement as honorees. That’s what makes it meaningful.
We’re spotlighting these teachers and publicly saying, ‘Well done.’
“Just to be nominated is an honor in itself,” Purkey adds. “That
a Lawrence senior thought so highly of a person they had as a teacher four
or five years ago that they would go to the effort to write an essay and sit
through a 45-minute interview has to be a validation of that teacher’s
effectiveness.
“Think of the hundreds of teachers whose good work goes largely unnoticed
except by their students, and perhaps the students’ parents. For Lawrence
to publicly celebrate the fact that a particular teacher touched one of our
students
in some positive way is a terribly important and worthwhile thing to do.”
Lawrence’s public approach to conferring its congratulations is clearly
not lost on the recipients.
“The weekend was marvelous. It was an awesome two days for us,” says
Joseph Vitrano, a 2005 honoree who teaches Latin at Wauwatosa East High School. “The
Lawrence community was very hospitable. My wife and I had a great time.
“The fact that one of my former students (Julia Ruff, ’05) chose
to honor me in this fashion — well, all of us in education hope that
we make a difference, that we influence young lives,” Vitrano says. “When
this is confirmed, as it was for me this June through Julia’s efforts,
it is both humbling and inspiring.”
When it comes to recognizing an exceptional teacher, it might be hard to find
a better authority on the subject than Ken Sager, ’39, professor emeritus
of education, Sager was a high school teacher himself for 21 years in Appleton
before joining the Lawrence education department, where he has spent the past
42 years helping mold future teachers. During that time, he also served 39
years as an elected member of the Appleton School Board, the longest tenure
in the school district’s history. Sager believes the basic ingredient
to being a great teacher is passion.
“The people we’ve honored love teaching. It’s their life.
They are academically alive,” says Sager, who serves on the faculty committee
that selects the recipients. “They tend to be very personable people
as well. Because they are so human, that is one reason why they’ve been
able to leave an impression on their students. In high school, students continually
look for support beyond their parents, and if a teacher provides it, they never
forget them.
“All the individuals we recognize are the kind of teachers anyone would
want their kids to have. I’m proud that Lawrence recognizes the value
of exceptional teachers,” he adds.
Candidates for the award are selected on specific criteria. They are evaluated
on their ability to effectively communicate their subject matter to their students,
create a sense of excitement about their subject, and motivate their students
to work toward excellence in academic achievement. They also must have demonstrated
a genuine concern for their students both in and out of the classroom.
Over the years, the program has recognized teachers from nearly 20 different
disciplines. Perhaps not surprisingly, English has been by far the most frequent
choice, followed by mathematics and chemistry. This spring, Lawrence broke
new ground with its award, honoring Appleton East High School’s Marilyn
Catlin, a family consumer-education teacher who has served as a school-age
parent coordinator for 11 years.
Kassandra Kuehl, ’05, who nominated Catlin for the award, was labeled “a
gifted student” in high school. A one-time state debate champion, she
had her sights set on attending an East Coast all-women’s college. Those
plans were thrown a sharp-breaking curve ball when she became pregnant while
a junior at Appleton East.
“I was all alone, and I realized it was up to me to make this work,” says
Kuehl. “I decided to make use of every available resource.”
High on that list was Catlin’s School Age Parent Program, in which Kuehl
was one of a half-dozen students.
“I was the only one in the group with college aspirations,” says
Kuehl, the mother of a four-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Samantha. “Ms.
Catlin’s
response wasn’t one of congratulations, but she reminded us that we were
still something special and that we needed to maintain our own self worth,
not only for ourselves but for our children.”
When college admissions counselors were making the rounds, Catlin encouraged
Kuehl to meet with the Lawrence representative.
“I was eight months pregnant at the time — and huge,” she
recalls. “The
very first question the counselor asked me was, ‘Do you speak any foreign
languages?’ I said, ‘Spanish,’ and he said, ‘We have
some great off-campus programs. You can carry your baby in a backpack.’ He
was so encouraging and nonjudgmental. I knew right then I had found the right
place.”
Any lingering doubts were laid to rest when, by karma or coincidence, Kuehl’s
letter of acceptance from the admissions office arrived the same day her water
broke.
Fast forward four-plus years. When Kuehl received the packet of information
detailing the nomination process for the teacher award, she knew exactly what
she had to do.
“I began writing my recommendation letter immediately. I knew in my heart
I had to write a great recommendation for Ms. Catlin because I didn’t
know if anyone in the past 20 years had, or in the next 20 years would, come
along
and say, ‘Let’s honor a teacher who works with teenage parents
and devotes her life to the kind of students who normally don’t make
it to Lawrence.’”
For Catlin, who had a bit of historical connection to Lawrence before her award — her
grandfather-in-law was the college’s
head football coach for 14 seasons between 1909-1927 — news of her
honor came out of the blue.
“I had no idea that any student had nominated me for the award, so I
was completely surprised when the letter came. I read it a couple of times
to make sure that
I had been selected and what it was for.
“Lawrence certainly made me feel special,” she adds. “I was
very impressed with the award. Afterward, I thought about which of my high
school
teachers I would have nominated if given a chance. Teachers make such a big
impression, and they don’t even know it, because students hardly ever
come back to tell them. The citation read during the Commencement ceremony
was fun, because what had impressed Kass about her experience with me seemed
like such small things. Obviously to her they meant a lot.”
Recipients aren’t initially told who nominated them, but Catlin says
she was “99.9 percent certain” it was Kuehl. The two had remained
in contact over the years and Kuehl had returned to East High School to speak
to her class several times. Catlin acknowledged the award in a one-word e-mail
to Kuehl: Thanks!
“I told her, ‘Don’t thank me. You absolutely earned this,’” says
Kuehl. “She encouraged me to go see that counselor and made me think
I was still worthy of going to Lawrence. If it wasn’t for Ms. Catlin,
I never would have made it to Lawrence.”
After four years of balancing academic demands and single-parent responsibilities,
Kuehl in June earned a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in religious
studies. This fall, with Samantha in tow, she’ll begin pursuit of a master’s
degree at the University of California, Berkeley, and a law degree in international
human rights at the University of California, Hastings. A career focused
on gender-based human rights is her eventual goal.
With the Lawrence campus in her rearview mirror, Kuehl says she’ll
leave town with a strong feeling of pride toward her alma mater.
“I was extremely proud of Lawrence for recognizing and honoring someone
who deals with the type of student that colleges typically don’t trumpet,” she
says. “I love it when Lawrence takes a chance and does something outside
its comfort zone. That’s a good thing.”