Teresa Dickey, an English teacher at Marymount High School in Westwood, has been awarded a Sarah D. Barder Fellowship by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY).
Since 1988, the fellowship program recognizes a teacher's ability to bring out the best in a student and is a life-time appointment, with first-year fellows receiving a $500 honorarium to be used to enhance their classroom settings. In addition, the Barder Endowment funds an annual conference and covers travel and accommodation expenses for first-year fellows and accommodation expenses for returning fellows.
Teachers residing in California, Nevada and Maryland are eligible to be nominated by students who have participated in one of CTY's summer programs. This year, 23 teachers were awarded the grant, 11 of them from Southern California. Dickey is one of seven teachers from private, independent schools.
Dickey was nominated by Marymount junior Cyra Kang, a resident of the Pacific Palisades who arrived with her parents, Drs. Hak Jung Kang and Sookhee Choi Kang, from Korea two years ago and entered Marymount High School as a freshman, speaking only a little English. By the end of her first year, her mastery of the English language had progressed far enough that she qualified for tenth grade Honors English with Dickey as her teacher.
Initially, both Kang and Dickey were concerned about the rigor of the honors-level course. However, Dickey set aside extra time to teach English grammar and writing skills to Kang and another foreign student. By the end of the year, Kang had a solid A and, this year, enrolled in 11th grade AP English Language.
In her nomination letter, Kang credited Dickey with her success as a student. "Even though I always complained about her treating me as just a normal American student, rather than a foreigner who was not acquainted with English, I realized how her attitude pushed me hard," said Kang. "She became the mentor of my life."
Dickey is in her 13th year as an English teacher at Marymount High School. A Westchester resident, she received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from Loyola Marymount University and always felt that she was destined to be a teacher.
As Dickey explained in her application essay, "For me, teaching is as personally automatic as breathing in my sleep, and as professionally exhausting as breathing in concentrated meditation. A teacher breathes in student exhaustion and breathes out the encouragement to revitalize a spirit: this alone makes teaching a labor of love. Yet, a teacher also breathes in student enthusiasm and breathes out inspiration to scholarship: this alone makes teaching a humbling life."
Dickey said she looks forward to utilizing her honorarium to supplement her African Literature class. |