Lake County Gazette

The Big Hollow School District Board of Education recognized one of the district's teachers, who recently received a Golden Apples Award, during the board's meeting on May 8.

The award is given by the Golden Apple Foundation, an organization that is "dedicated to honoring and recognizing outstanding teachers and school leaders who help support their students, coworkers, and overall school culture and betterment," according to the foundation's website. Golden Apple seeks to provide young teachers with training and mentorship relationships with older teachers, to help improve the teacher pipeline and cut the educator shortage, the website stated. Fourth-Grade teacher Andrea Woods was presented on May 5 with a Golden Apple Award during a schoolwide assembly.

"We are proud to say that we have a Golden Apple Award winner," Superintendent Bob Gold said during the meeting.

"These remarkable teachers have shown their dedication, creativity and impact on their students and schools. They have also contributed to their professional communities by sharing their best practices, collaborating with their peers and mentoring new teachers. They are not only exemplary teachers but also influential leaders," Alan Mather, President of The Golden Apple Foundation, said in a release announcing Woods' selection. "The 2023 award recipients will join our mission to impact the lives of even more students by supporting the next generation of great teachers through our teacher preparation programs."

Woods was one of more than 570 teachers of grades four through eight who were nominated for the Teaching in Excellence award, and she made it into the top 40 finalists earlier this year. On Friday, May 5th, her elementary school held a big assembly and surprised her with a visit from Golden Apple personnel during the assembly to announce that she had been chosen as one of the 10 winners.

Woods was praised for her “perseverance, resilience, and commitment," and recognized for her ability to support her students during a trying year where she had a student teacher to instruct, her father was dying of cancer, and the onset of the pandemic all in the same few weeks. “Despite being thrown the biggest obstacle of her life, Woods did not abandon her students, their families or her student teacher,” the release said.

Wood spoke to the board, giving credit to those around her. “There are a lot of people over the years that poured their heart and soul into making me who I am," she said. "And some of them are retired. One is really special and she's no longer with us, but she really affected my teaching and introduced me to a lot of things that I still do now. And I think of all the people in this room that you've impacted my ability to do what I do to make a difference for kids. So thank you.”