Meredith Schwarze, above, and Kira Tutko, below.
Two alumnae recently received the Hudson Valley Magazine Teacher Appreciation Award: Kira Tutko '13 MSEd '15 and Meredith Schwarze MSEd '15.
They were nominated for excellence in shaping education during an unprecedented time.
To make her students feel more comfortable, Tutko created Bitmojis (personalized, expressive cartoon avatars) for her school's faculty and staff to help welcome the entire school into the fully virtual environment.
A K-4 Literacy teacher in the Kingston, N.Y. school district, Tutko attributes much of her success to Ludmilla Smirnova, professor of Education, whom she called a "tech guru." Smirnova gave Tutko many resources that she brings into her classroom today.
Now in her seventh year of teaching Kindergarten in the Arlington Central School District, Schwarze noted how hard all teachers are working to come up with new approaches to engage and care for their students.
Schwarze attributes some of her inspiration to her mentors in the Division of Education, including David Gallagher, Rebecca Norman, Janine Bixler, and Nancy Benfer.