Oklahoma Wesleyan University has a long and proud tradition of training future educators to succeed in the classroom. While these students can now be found all over the globe, many choose to remain close to their OKWU home, serving with Bartlesville Public Schools (BPS). This year, OKWU is pleased to join BPS in honoring five of those alumni nominated for the district’s annual awards.
For 2018 Teacher of the Year, Jennifer England (2007) and Kristina Tupper (2004) are nominated. The 2018 Rising Star nominees include Zack (2012) and Hannah (2014) Michel, and Krista Reimer (2016). England and Hannah Michel both serve at Ranch Heights Elementary, teaching fifth and third grades, respectively. Hannah’s husband Zack, is the Oklahoma history and financial literacy teacher at Bartlesville High School. Tupper teaches fourth grade at Woodrow Wilson Elementary, and Reimer teaches third at Richard Kane Elementary.
At last count, nearly 50 School of Education undergraduate alumni are educators and employees of the BPS system – not including those with an OKWU graduate degree or students from other undergraduate programs at the University. These teachers are passionate and dedicated to their careers and their students, and their hard work has been recognized by the school district numerous times. Since 2015 alone, three OKWU alumni were nominated for BPS Teacher of the Year, and four alumni were nominated for the “Rising Star” teacher award.
“We could not be prouder of our graduates who enter the classroom every day and continue to impact culture by educating the next generation with excellence” shared School of Education Dean, Dr. Jeffrey Keeney.
The 2018 awards will be celebrated March 27th during a public program at Bartlesville High School. Good luck to all this year’s teacher nominees!
