United West Elementary received an unexpected wonderful Christmas gift this year. It began back in early August when Library Technology Coordinator Trish Bertelsen nominated Emily Higbee, Kindergarten teacher, and Katie Fry, 1st Grade teacher, for the Dollar General Suave Help Write Their Life Stories Contest.
“I nominated Katie Fry and Emily Higbee for a competition through Dollar General. We have received their literacy grant two years now. They hosted a competition nationwide to honor teachers who inspire kids through reading. So I nominated Katie and Emily for the lessons they design, which are amazing. They use children’s literature to ignite curiosity in our students. It’s just very exciting,” shares Bertelsen.
In October, Bertelsen received word that both Higbee and Fry were selected into the top 25 and in December, the district learned that Katie Fry was selected as one of the top 5 Grand Prize winners, receiving $2,500 for books and reading materials for her classroom, a $2,500 gift card, and $10,000 for the school to promote literacy. Principal Patrick Coate shares more on what this opportunity has meant for the school:
“It’s nice to honor just a few of our fine educators at United West. Its great recognition of two people who strive to work hard, love their kids, and very passionate about what they do. We are in the process of figuring out how to use the $10,000 for the school. One area we are looking to enhance our library. Obviously we will putting new materials in the library for our students to read and helpful to learn. As learning changes and evolves, we want to provide our kids with a lot of text to help them learn all the skills we are teaching them on to help them comprehend at the same time,” Coate states.
Listen to the entire interview below:
