Schools
Oak Park Teacher Selected as Golden Apple Finalist
The 30 finalists for the 2016 Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching were announced Monday.
Jessica Stovall, of Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, was chosen as one of the finalists.
The 30 finalists for the Excellence in Teaching award were selected from a pool of 400 nominations and include ninth to 12th grade teachers throughout Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.
Daniel Krause, the principal at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, was selected as a finalist for the Stanley C. Golder Leadership Award, according to a news release.
The following suburban teachers were also among the finalists for the 2016 Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching:
- Michael Ayala, John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights
- Colleen Backer, St. Charles North High School in St. Charles
- Stewart Bailey, Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park
- John Camardella, Prospect High School in Mount Prospect
- Jason Crean, Lyons Township High School in Western Springs
- Timothy DeBoer, Joliet Township High School, West Campus, in Joliet
- Laila Elamin, Aqsa School in Bridgeview
- Jeff Grant, Downers Grove North High School in Downers Grove
- Danny Gray, Thornwood High School in South Holland
- Mark Hibnerm, Palatine High School in Palatine
- Justin Johnson, Niles West High School in Skokie
- LaQuesha Martin, Thornton Fractional South High School in Lansing
- Peter McNulty, Loyola Academy High School in Wilmette
- Joshua Norten, Cary-Grove Community High School in Cary
- Sherri Rukes, Libertyville High School in Libertyville
- Christine Saxman, Deerfield High School in Deerfield
- Pankaj Sharma, Niles North High School in Skokie
- Debra Thomas, Rich East High School in Park Forest
- Lisa Thyer, Amos Alonzo Stagg High School in Palos Hills
A Celebration of Excellence in honor of the Golden Apple finalists will be held April 2 at the Hilton Rosemont Chicago O’Hare. Event details and tickets are available at goldenapple.org/celebration. The event is open to the public.
The 30 finalists will experience a final round of review and classroom observations prior to the selection and announcement this spring of the 10 award recipients. Each Golden Apple Award recipient receives a tuition-free, spring quarter sabbatical to study at Northwestern University and a $5,000 cash award.
The winner of the Stanley C. Golder Leadership Award, which was named in memory of Stanley C. Golder, a founding board member of Golden Apple, will receive a $10,000 cash award to be used for his/her own professional development and a school project of the recipient’s choosing.
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