Two National-Louis alumni receive 2010 Golden Apple Awards
(CHICAGO – May 14, 2010) Two National-Louis University (NLU) alumni—Aaron Reedy and Patrice Turk—were among this year’s 10 Chicago-area recipients of the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. The honorees, all high school teachers, were selected from a pool of 562 nominees.
Reedy received his Master of Arts in Teaching Degree in Secondary Education from NLU in 2009. He teaches biology and zoology at Thomas Kelly High School in Chicago. Turk received her Master of Education Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from NLU in 1994. She teaches literary studies, advanced placement literature and composition at Chicago Academy High School in Chicago.
The selection of Reedy and Turk brings to 39 the number of National-Louis alumni who have received Golden Apples in the Chicago area from the Chicago-based Golden Apple Foundation in the 25 years the program has existed.
The recipients of the 2010 Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching will be honored at a black-tie event on Friday, October 15, 2010, at WTTW/Channel 11 Studios in Chicago. WTTW will also broadcast the awards in a one-hour television program following the event.
“We are very proud of Aaron Reedy and Patrice Turk for receiving this wonderful honor,” said Nivine Megahed, Ph.D., president of National-Louis University. “While this is their accomplishment, it is also a terrific reflection of National-Louis University’s commitment to excellence in teacher preparation. We, along with the Golden Apple Foundation, applaud them.”
Because all children deserve excellent teachers, the Chicago-based Golden Apple Foundation advances the teaching profession by recognizing excellent teachers, leveraging their thinking and efforts to improve education, recruiting and preparing prospective teachers and providing teachers access to innovative resources.
Each of the 10 Golden Apple Award recipients will receive a tuition-free, six-month sabbatical to study at Northwestern University. Each winner also receives a $3,000 cash award. Perhaps most importantly, Golden Apple teachers become Fellows of the Golden Apple Academy of Educators, providing a stronger voice and a larger stage from which to make an impact, through ongoing professional development and engagement in education reform, such as the mentoring of future teachers through Golden Apple’s Scholars program.
Dominic Belmonte, president and CEO, Golden Apple Foundation, says about NLU, "It's become no surprise to me that invariably each year a Golden Apple recipient is discovered to have a National–Louis heritage. While the process we employ towards championing the excellence we seek does not focus on where the degree was obtained, time and again we discover to our delight that the path the excellent teachers we honor take passes through NLU. Doesn't that tell you something about the quality of the experience received there?”
National-Louis University began as a teacher of teachers; teaching remains not just the university’s strength, but its calling. In 1886, founder Elizabeth Harrison took the idea of early childhood education and built around it one of the first four-year colleges for teachers. Today, in the process of educating students, faculty in the National College of Education, College of Arts and Sciences and College of Management and Business continue to act on some of the most urgent problems of our time and our society. They are innovators, animated by an intense dedication to their students and a commitment to building more effective and more caring schools, communities and societies. To see a complete list of NLU’s Golden Apple recipients, please visit http://www.nl.edu/goldenapple/.
Contact:
Sue Malovany
University Publications Editor
847.465.5497 (w)
847.624.0919 (c)