2009 Finalists
Nineteen Educators Named as Finalists for the
2009 Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards
CHICAGO -- Nineteen of metropolitan Chicago’s finest educators who work with children between birth and age eight have been selected as finalists for the 2009 Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards. The finalists exemplify the best practices of quality early childhood teaching: dedication, innovation, leadership, respect for children and their families, and commitment to professional growth. They work in preschools, home day care centers, childcare centers, Head Start programs, Preschool For All, and kindergarten through third-grade classrooms in public, private, and parochial schools in Cook and DuPage Counties.
The process began last fall when an esteemed committee of leaders in the field of early childhood education conducted site visits and selected 19 outstanding teachers as finalists for this award.
Five of these outstanding educators will be chosen to represent the best of the field, following a final application process that includes additional site visits and interviews by members of the Kohl McCormick Academy of Outstanding Educators. Those five representatives will be announced in April, and they will be honored at the 2009 Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards luncheon ceremony on Tuesday, June 2, at the Westin River North in Chicago.
Each of the five representatives will receive:
- A $5,000 cash award
- A $1,000 cash award for your school or center
- Induction into the Kohl McCormick Academy of Outstanding Educators
- A classroom visit and professional development from the StoryBus
- A field trip at and professional development at the Kohl Children's Museum of Greater Chicago
- A graduate-level course at The Erikson Institute
- Recognition at a formal awards ceremony
While there are numerous teaching awards in the United States, the Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards is the first awards program to formally recognize the contributions of teachers working with children from infancy through third grade. In its fourteenth year, the Kohl McCormick Awards program has become a model for recognition of outstanding early childhood educators.
“While education reform debates continue at a local and national level, we must remember that our early education teachers are the ones who lay the foundations for literacy and prepare children for success in school,” says Sara Slaughter, education program director of the McCormick Foundation. “The Kohl McCormick Teaching Award winners accomplish this by teaching and nurturing our youngest learners each day. The McCormick Foundation applauds these winning teachers.”
“Great teachers make all the difference in the world. They have the potential to impact the development of a young child as well as their surrounding environments,” observes Catherine Knox, manager of the Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards. “These teachers are models within the field of early childhood education. They partner with their students and families, inspiring change in the communities in which they work. I believe we can all be inspired by their dedication and commitment as they invest in our collective future, one young mind at a time.”
The Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards program is sponsored by the McCormick Foundation and the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation. Since 1993, the education program of the McCormick Foundation has committed more than $67 million in resources and expertise to improve the quality of early childhood education in the metropolitan Chicago area.
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Finalists – 2009 Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards
(List with finalist’s name, school, location of school and residence, phone, type of educational program.)
Bertha Baillie
School: Salt Creek Primary School (Elmhurst, Illinois)
980 S. Riverside Dr.
Elmhurst, IL 60126
630.832.6122
Kindergarten
Residence: Aurora, Illinois
Dayna Darby
School: Talcott Fine Arts & Museum Academy (West Town, Chicago)
1840 W. Ohio Street
Chicago, IL 60622
773.534.7130
Preschool for All
Residence: Belmont Cragin, Chicago
Alejandra De La Pena
School: Lloyd Elementary (Belmont Cragin, Chicago)
2103 N. Lamon Ave.
Chicago, IL 60639
773.534.3070
Head Start Preschool
Residence: Logan Square, Chicago
Arinda Feiwell
School: Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez Elementary School (Little Village, Chicago)
3000 S. Lawndale Ave.
Chicago, IL 60623
773.534.1600
Preschool for All- NAEYC Accredited
Residence: Clearing, Chicago
Nicole Gaynor
School: Bret Harte Elementary (Hyde Park, Chicago)
1556 E. 56th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
773.535.0870
Early Childhood Autism –NAEYC Accredited
Residence: Wicker Park, Chicago
Elizabeth Goss
School: Legacy Charter School (North Lawndale, Chicago)
4217 W. 18th Street
Chicago, IL 60623
773.542.1640
Second Grade
Residence: Little Village, Chicago
Petrina Haynes
School: Edgar Allen Poe Classical School (Pullman, Chicago)
10538 S. Langley Ave.
Chicago, IL 60628
773-535-5525
Kindergarten
Residence: South Shore, Chicago
Cynthia Helwink
School: St. Maria Goretti School
10050 Ivanhoe Ave.
Schiller Park, IL 60176
847.678.2560
Preschool
Residence: Franklin Park, Illinois
Camia Hoard
School: Frazier Preparatory Academy (North Lawndale, Chicago)
4027 W Grenshaw
Chicago, IL 60624
773-534-6776
First Grade
Residence: South Shore, Chicago
Sherry Howell
School: Chicago Commons Nia Family (Humboldt Park, Chicago)
744 N. Monticello Ave.
Chicago, IL 60624
773.722.0115
Head Start & Child Care Center
Residence: Garfield Park, Chicago
Jenna Jung
School: Oriole Park Elementary (Oriole Park, Chicago)
5424 N. Oketo Ave.
Chicago, IL 60656
773.775.4207
Preschool for All
Residence: Lake View, Chicago
Donna Kaufman
School: Louisa May Alcott School (Lincoln Park, Chicago)
2625 N. Orchard St.
Chicago, IL 60614
773. 534.5460
First Grade
Residence: Lincoln Park, Chicago
Lourdes Molina
School: Belmont Cragin Early Childhood Center (Belmont Cragin, Chicago)
6041 W. Diversey Ave.
Chicago, IL 60639
773.534.3318
Preschool for All
Residence: Portage Park, Chicago
Karen Sabaka
School: Telpochcalli School (Little Village, Chicago)
2832 W. 24th Blvd
Chicago, IL 60623
773.534.1403
Kindergarten
Residence: Pilsen, Chicago
Amy Scheeringa
School: Our Lady of Guadalupe (South Chicago, Chicago)
9050 S. Burley Ave.
Chicago, IL 60617
773.768.0999
Kindergarten- NAEYC Accredited
Residence: Highland, Indiana
Sabrina Silverstein
School: Ortiz de Dominguez Elementary School (Little Village, Chicago)
3000 S. Lawndale Ave.
Chicago, IL 60623
773.534.1600
Preschool for All- NAEYC Accredited
Residence: Uptown, Chicago
Patricia Twymon
School: Wee Are the World Home Day Care
557 Bensley Ave.
Calumet City, IL 60409
708.862.5095
Family Child Care Home- NAFCC Accredited
Residence: Calumet City, Illinois
Eva Wojkowski
School: St. Helen School (West Town, Chicago)
2347 W. Augusta Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60622
773.486.1055
Preschool-NAEYC & Early Childhood Environment Rating
Scale Accredited
Residence: North Chicago
Xiaodong Zhang
School: James Ward Elementary School (Armour Square, Chicago)
2701 S. Shields Ave.
Chicago, IL 60616
773.534.9050
Second Grade
Residence: Brighton Park, Chicago
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