State’s Top 10 Educators for 2014 Honored by Peers
Awards presented at KeyBank Superstars in Education Banquet
No one appreciates good teaching like a teacher. This makes being nominated and selected by fellow teachers for the 2014UEA Excellence in Teaching award a real honor.
A student in Glen Carpenter’s drama class had a genetic condition that left him with little hearing capacity, even with hearing aids. The student loved the performing arts and desperately wanted to perform in musicals and plays. This was challenging because he had a hard time hearing the cues and matching pitch. Carpenter patiently spent extra time with this student over the course of six years to help him succeed despite his disability. During his junior and senior years, this young man was able to have several lead roles in plays and musicals at Stansbury High School, including one as the “man in the chair” in the musical the Drowsy Chaperone.
When the choir teacher at a rival high school quit just a few days before the region madrigal festival, West Jordan High vocal music teacher Kelly DeHaan stepped in to help by organizing early morning and after-school practices and conducting the choir. For the first time in years, the school qualified for state. The principal commented how impressed he was that DeHaan would come to a rival high school, without being asked, to help students who would be competing with his own West Jordan High students.
Carpenter and DeHaan are two of the 10 educators honored with 2014 UEA Excellence in Teaching awards during the KeyBank Superstars in Education banquet Oct. 16. The guest speaker for the event was KSL-TV Anchor Nadine Wimmer.
Award recipients were nominated by their peers and selected based on their impact on individual students or groups of students. Each winner received an award, a poster to display at their school and a check for $1,500, courtesy of award sponsors.
Excellence in Teaching award recipients for 2014 are:
· Alaina Allred, eighth-grade English teacher at Centennial Jr. High School in Davis School District (sponsored by Education First Credit Union);
· Glen Carpenter, drama teacher at Stansbury High School in Tooele County School District (sponsored by GBS Benefits);
· Kelly DeHaan, vocal music teacher at West Jordan High School in Jordan School District (sponsored by KeyBank of Utah);
· Bruce Elliott, kindergarten teacher at Park Elementary School in Nebo School District (sponsored by Deseret First Credit Union);
· Bruce Gunn, district math specialist in Jordan School District (sponsored by Jordan Credit Union);
· Jill Major, resource teacher at Taylor Elementary School in Davis School District (sponsored by Horizon Credit Union);
· Lynn Meek, school counselor at Lehi Junior High School in Alpine School District (sponsored by the UEA Children At Risk Foundation);
· Kelly Peterson, science teacher at North Sevier High School in Sevier School District (sponsored by EMI Health);
· Cindy Skillicorn, first-grade teacher at Sego Lily Elementary School in Alpine School District (sponsored by Alpine Credit Union); and
· PJ Steele, technology specialist at Stansbury Elementary School in Granite School District (sponsored by Granite Credit Union).
The UEA has presented more than 100 Excellence in Teaching awards since 2000. KeyBank has sponsored the banquet since 2012.
“It is a tremendous honor to recognize these outstanding educators. They are a shining example of the great work happening in our public schools each day,” said UEA President Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh. “The only thing that could be better is if we could personally recognize each and every teacher for the remarkable work they do day in and day out in classrooms across Utah.”
“We are privileged to support the Utah Education Association as it honors our state’s educators,” said Jill Taylor, President of KeyBank in Utah. “These exceptional teachers comprise a vital part of our communities by ensuring our children receive quality educations. Quality education helps our communities thrive and thriving communities benefit all of us.”
In addition to recognizing the state’s outstanding educators, the UEA presented 2014 Honor Roll awards to Pamela Perlich, senior research economist in the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Utah, and Carol Spackman Moss, state representative and former teacher.
A Charles E. Bennett Human and Civil Rights Award was also presented to Kim Burningham, State Board of Education member, former legislator and teacher.
About the Utah Education Association
For more than a century, the Utah Education Association has been dedicated to preserving and enhancing Utah public education. The UEA is the largest public education employee association in Utah, representing 18,000 active classroom teachers, retired educators, administrators, licensed educational support personnel and campus student organizations. The UEA has local affiliates in each of the state’s 41 school districts, Applied Technology Colleges, and the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind.
About KeyBank
KeyBank is part of KeyCorp, one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies with assets of approximately $92 billion. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management and investment services to individuals, small and medium-sized businesses under the name of KeyBank N.A. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC.
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