While all teachers make an impact, today we are going to acknowledge one very special teacher with the Elinor Rice Fuchs Award.   As the drama teacher, “Ricey” devoted long hours after school to guiding the rehearsal of wonderful plays, listening to her students, and offering wise counsel with a healthy mixture of laughter and gravitas. The School has chosen to honor these twin attributes of promoting excellence and building special relationships with students by identifying an Elinor Rice Fuchs Distinguished Teacher each year.

In order to be eligible for the award, a member of the faculty (not administration) must have taught at Roycemore for a minimum of FIVE years and must not have received the award in any of the last five years.

As the committee of faculty members met this year to select a recipient for this award, they all agreed that this teacher reflects all of the qualities that are outlined for this award. This teacher is known for treating every student as an individual and creating space for students to grow as learners.  She is passionate about every aspect of teaching and brings fun and exciting things to the classroom every day.  She helps her colleagues when they need help, including with technology.  She’s particularly skilled at Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (or STEAM) and gets her students excited about it too.  They get upset with their parents if they have to miss school!  Even long after moving on to their next grade, her students remember her- as reported by a member of the committee who hears her students talk about their former teacher. And she has a great rapport with parents as well.  This teacher teaches important life lessons in addition to academics.  To quote a well-known author:

Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. 

Put things back where you found them.  

Clean up your own mess.  

Don’t take things that aren’t yours. 

Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.  

Wash your hands before you eat. Flush.  

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Robert Fulghum was right when he wrote that all he really needed to know about how to live and what to do he learned in kindergarten.

And our kindergarten teacher, Ms. Ashley Smith, is the kind of kindergarten teacher that every parent dreams of for their child.  She is the kind of colleague that her fellow teachers appreciate.  She makes a difference in big and little ways every day, which is why a committee of her peers selected her as this year’s Elinor Rice Fuchs Distinguished Teacher.