YC’s Miller named Yuma County Teacher of the Year
The 33rd annual Yuma County Teacher of the Year awards ceremony, hosted virtually Tuesday evening by local Rotary clubs and the Education Foundation of Yuma County due to COVID-19, honored Yuma Catholic High School’s Jennifer Miller as 2020 Teacher of the Year.
With a teaching philosophy oriented around recognizing and connecting with the humanity of her 105 high school seniors, Miller places a heavy emphasis on relationship-building. Pre-coronavirus, she fostered a daily habit of shaking hands with each student as they entered her classroom “so they know that I see them, that they are a human being and that they matter,” Miller said in an essay submission for the award.
“The relationships that we build with our students can help open the door to mutual respect, understanding and learning,” said Miller. “A student that knows that their teacher believes in them and truly cares about them for who they are can mean all the difference in their lives inside and outside of the classroom.”
Though the classroom looks different this year due to the onset of COVID-19 in the spring, Miller said she and her students are still making the most of it, thanks to the support of Yuma Catholic families, stakeholders and the outlying community.
“We are making it work, and it’s a beautiful thing,” she said. “The great thing about teachers and students, our parents and guardians and all supporters of education in our community is that we work together for the success of our students, and it is a beautiful thing.”
As an educator, Miller’s conviction is that teachers are guardians of the future – a role she does not take lightly.
“I firmly believe that a teacher’s role in society is to be a guardian – defender, protector, keeper – of the future, which (is) our students,” Miller said. “We have been given a sacred duty to keep them safe, to let them know that we are here for them and their families until the end of the end of the line and beyond. Throughout the ages, teachers love, care and (are) concerned for their students – they will never falter, they will never waver. And I assure you, whether our students are in class or online, their best interests are always on our mind.”
In addition to the title of 2020’s top educator, Miller’s outstanding
teaching has earned her a free trip to Hawaii courtesy of the Yuma Investment Group, a tuition voucher for three free credits to Northern Arizona University and a $1,000 Paul Harris fellowship.
The 2020 primary (grades kindergarten through third) category winner is Valley Horizon Elementary School’s first grade teacher Bethany Shoup.
“Teaching is one of, if not the hardest job in the world,” Shoup said. “However, it’s also hands-down the most rewarding. Seeing students learn not only the academics I’m teaching them but also who they are as an individual is such an incredible feeling.”
In Shoup’s classroom, relationships are in the forefront to ensure a safe and fun learning environment for her students while providing their parents with the comfort and assurance of knowing their children are in good hands.
“In today’s world, the teaching profession not only teaches and supports students, but their families and parents as well,” Shoup said. “Teaching uplifts students and empowers them to be whatever they want to be.”
The 2020 intermediate/ special area (grades four through six) category winner is Suzanne Lasich, a fourth, fifth and sixth grade science teacher at Mesquite Elementary School.
According to Lasich, it’s been an interesting year for teaching as COVID-19 has modified the education landscape.
“I think we all tried to prepare the best we could for what school might look like,” she said. “There was a certain amount of anxiety coming back to school and there was a lot of uncertainty. I’m used to a classroom where we do experiments and we work in groups to solve problems. My classroom used to be so energetic and full of excitement. I was afraid of losing that, and I refused to do that this year.”
To keep that energetic spirit alive while her students are split between in-class participation and virtual participation via Zoom, Lasich, much like her fellow award recipients, has prioritized the relationships she’s established with her 90 students this school year.
“I think it’s just super important for a teacher to build relationships,” she said. “I have students in class with masks, so it’s a little harder to get to know them, and then I have the other half at home (on Zoom). I try to make sure I’m in front of the camera and they can hear me, but it’s not always easy. I believe the most important thing that we can do each day is show our students that we care. We all want ‘normal,’ but I’m going to just continue to do the best that I can to share my love of science and my excitement to teach them something new each day.”
The 2020 junior high/ middle school category winner is Centennial Middle School’s eighth grade science teacher Karla Jones.
Born and raised in Mexico, Jones immigrated to Yuma County with her family and was immersed into an American school system when she was 13 years old. Because of her teachers, the transition was successful.
“It was a culture shock – I was really, really scared, I did not speak the language, I did not know the culture,” she said. “Luckily I had amazing teachers – teachers that made a positive impact in my life.”
After more than a decade of teaching her own group of students, some of whom share a similar background as immigrants, Jones strives to make a difference, nurture and inspire students in the same way she was years ago.
“A lot of them struggle, so teaching in our community can be challenging, especially now with COVID,” she said. “Now we have to adjust to teaching online, teaching in-person and everything else in our bucket, but the pros outweigh the cons. I get to provide my students with skills and tools that they will use for the rest of their lives. I get to make them critically think, problem solve and create immense numbers of opportunities for them to develop their character and everything else in their lives. I am really lucky to be a teacher in the Yuma community.”
The 2020 high school category winner is Jayden Gubbels, a ninth grade English teacher at Kofa High School.
Like many educators across the county and the nation, Gubbels’ strategy is to cultivate an environment that supports the learning of all students and their individual academic, social and emotional needs – this year more than ever before.
“Because of COVID-19, we have had to look at teaching in an entirely different way,” said Gubbels. “We are now teaching in a variety of formats, and we have put extra emphasis on ensuring students’ social and emotional learning is a top priority. We are creating ways to get to know our students and build relationships, even though we have not seen most of them so far this year. We are connecting them with their peers virtually so that when they safely return, there will be an environment of camaraderie on our campuses.”
According to Gubbels, being an educator is about much more than teaching state standards.
“It is our role (as teachers) to prepare students to leave high school and achieve higher education and to be productive and valuable members of our society,” she said. “It is our role to help students build a sense of pride in their communities so that they will find ways to improve their communities as they grow. To be a truly outstanding teacher, I believe that we must be passionate, compassionate and positive. Children need us not only to be their teachers, but to be someone that they feel comfortable turning to no matter the situation.”
The college-level finalists for 2020 Teacher of the Year are Rudy Ortiz (parttime) and Matthew Smith (full-time) of Arizona Western College. The university-level finalists are Darcy Markham (part-time) and Heather Clark (full-time) of Northern Arizona University.