Ten NDA Teachers Nominated for Golden Apple Awards

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January 12, 2021

Ten NDA teachers found their names in last week’s Green Bay Press-Gazette as nominees for the Golden Apple Awards.  The 28th Golden Apple ceremony will take place April 21.

The Online Tritonian contacted nominees Brian Bobinski, Carolyn Brown, Deb Corriveau, Crystal Dory, Andrea Gilson, Daniel Kriegl, Jen Laaksonen, Brenda Rentmeester, Amy Stover and Jean Thillman for a Q & A session about their career and the award.
Faculty responses will be posted in the order received.
                                                                                   Jean Thillman, English
How many years have you taught?
 “I started teaching at Sun Prairie High School in 1990. My husband and I moved to Kentucky in 1993, and I taught there one year before taking time off to raise my family. I started at NDA in 2007, so this is my 14th year.”
What or who inspired you to become a teacher? 
 “My dad was my high school English teacher. I guess the job is one that I knew well my entire life. After a year of working as a copy editor for my university’s student newspaper, I knew that I didn’t want to be editing copy at 2 a.m. for the rest of my life. I still do a lot of editing as a teacher, but not at 2 a.m.!
What is your favorite part of the job?  the most challenging? 
“My favorite part of the job is learning new information and planning new lessons.  The most challenging aspect of teaching is finding the time to grade students’ assignments. There are 125 of you, give or take, but there’s only one me!”
Do you have a “success story” or experience you could share with us? 
“As teachers, we rarely know the success stories, but we occasionally hear from students post-graduation who say thank you or share how prepared for college they’ve been because of something we did in class. I’ll never forget a story my Dad tells.  Now my dad is not a teddy bear kind of guy. He once wrote on a girl’s paper that her writing was improving and showing ‘potential.’ Years later she met him at a funeral they both attended, and she told him that his one innocuous comment on her essay inspired her to leave an abusive, toxic home situation and eventually attend college and graduate…We just never know the impact we have on students–hopefully all for the good!”
What was your initial reaction in learning you had been nominated for a Golden Apple?  Or, what would you like to say to parents and students about being nominated?  
“I had to laugh because my 86-year-old father texted me to congratulate me after seeing my name in the paper.  He said success must run in the family–as he had been a teacher of distinction at L-C back in the early 90s. To students and parents, thanks so much for taking the time to nominate a teacher. It’s always wonderful to receive positive feedback.”
                                                                   Deb Corriveau, Chemistry
What or who inspired you to become a teacher?
“I always enjoyed chemistry in high school and in college. I thought I could maybe help students to understand more clearly the things that I personally never understood well. Also, I try to make sure students understand how chemistry pertains to real-life situations and how it operates in their daily lives. I like to think I take more of an engineering perspective on the topic. Theory is great, but how does it translate into everyday events? Teaching has been my 2nd career after managing at a paper mill in Green Bay for 15 years. Both jobs have taught me a lot. My careers have  been both challenging and rewarding.”
How many years have you taught?
“I’m in my 17th year of teaching, all at NDA.”
What is your favorite part of the job?  the most challenging?
My favorite part is hearing from past students who sometimes write to me about their success in their freshman college chemistry course. My goal is to make sure that they are well prepared for the difficulty of that course. I also love to hear that my students have decided to continue in their study of science in college. The most challenging part is finding the class time to do everything that I want to do with my students. I love to have my students do hands-on laboratory work, and the pandemic has made that nearly impossible. Past students would tell you that I am one of the few people at NDA who are saddened by missing school on a snow day!”
Do you have a “success story” or experience you could share with us? 
“I feel like I have won the lottery any time one of my students decides to pursue studying science, technology, engineering or math (STEM)  in college! It is not an easy path to choose, but it can be very rewarding, both intellectually and financially. There is always more to learn and new things to try to understand in these areas. I believe in the importance of life-long learning for everyone. My teaching colleagues will tell you that I am always passing along recent articles about new discoveries in scientific fields.”
What was your initial reaction in learning you had been nominated for a Golden Apple?  Or, what would you like to say to parents and students about being nominated?  
“It is an honor to be recognized for my impact on students. I do wish I knew a little more about the particulars of the nomination, who wrote it and what was said. I would tell every student or parent to let a teacher know that he or she made a difference in your life. All of us can tend to take the wonderful people around us for granted. Now that I have said that, I want to include a comment about how much I appreciate working with my fabulous colleagues in the NDA science department. I usually don’t teach NDA students until their sophomore or junior year of high school. The NDA teachers who prepare them in their freshman and sophomore science (and math) classes make it possible for me to do what I do.”
                                                                                        Jen Laaksonen, German 
How many years have you taught?
“I have been teaching for 23 years, all of them at NDA.”
What or who inspired you to become a teacher? 
“I think deep down I knew that I always wanted to be a teacher.  I strayed from that path for the first year of college, but I soon got back on track.  There is no doubt that every teacher has had a teacher or two that has inspired them and made them want to be a part of the profession.  However, some of the best inspiration has been once I started teaching.  The students and the people I work with have always inspired me to continue on, even in the darkest, most challenging moments.”
What is your favorite part of the job?  the most challenging?
“Without a doubt my favorite part of the job is the human connections I have made and continue to make.  It gives me hope, strength and a motivation to continue on.  Challenges come in many forms, but for me the goal is always to remain as positive as possible and see the good in all things.”
Do you have a “success story” or experience you could share with us?
“My success is ongoing and yet to be determined.  Many of my success stories I will never know about, but I look at every student as an opportunity to make a difference.  As a teacher, you don’t always know the impact you have, but that is not the point. You do what you do because you love it, and you want to make a difference.”
What was your initial reaction in learning you had been nominated for a Golden Apple?  Or, what would you like to say to parents and students about being nominated?
“I would like to thank the person that nominated me.  It is a true honor.”
                                                                      Brenda Rentmeester, French
How many years have you taught?
“I am in my 6th year of teaching, and my 3rd at NDA.”
What or who inspired you to become a teacher? 
“Volunteering in my daughter’s elementary classrooms is what inspired me to become a teacher.  It was such a wonderful experience for me helping students at that early age, especially the students who got frustrated or discouraged.  I also have to say that my first French teacher was a big influence, as she made me fall in love with French on the first day of my freshman year in high school.”
What is your favorite part of the job?  the most challenging?
“My favorite part of the job is getting to know my students!  I also love being able to spread my love of languages to the next generation. The most challenging part, outside of COVID of course, is that I never seem to have enough time to do all that I would like to do with the students.”
Do you have a “success story” or experience you could share with us?
“In my first year at NDA, I took over the IB French class halfway through the year.  The students were so nervous about having a different teacher and were intimidated by the upcoming IB exams.  Despite their fears, I was able to give them confidence going into their exams, and they were able to pass their exams.  I even had one of my students come back to visit the next year and tell me that I had inspired her to minor in French in college!”
What was your initial reaction in learning you had been nominated for a Golden Apple?  Or, what would you like to say to parents and students about being nominated?
“When I first learned about my nomination, I felt very blessed and honored.  Knowing that I made that kind of an impact on a student helped me realize that I had done the right thing switching careers to go into teaching.  To the parents, I would like to say thank you for entrusting me with the education of your students.  To the students, I would say it has been so wonderful getting to know you over the last 3 years and how proud I am of what you have accomplished.”