Kathleen Sweet, elementary teacher from Starmont elementary school, is the 2015‐2016 Art Educator of the Year.  She has served AEI as an area representative, and has developed area wide PLCs for art teachers in Northeast Iowa.  She is a tireless advocate for arts education and for education in general.  She has served as her district’s education association president and been the negotiator for that organization.  Sweet has presented at conferences and workshops.  Her curriculum is innovative, authentic, and ties to the NAEA art standards as well as Common Core standards.
“It is an honor to receive the 2015 Art Educator of the Year award. I am grateful to my students for keeping my love and passion of art alive. Every day they invite me to see the world in wonder and beauty. Thank you to my colleagues who encourage me to take risks and to expand my teaching knowledge. Love and gratitude to my family for enduring my absence due to long teaching days. Their encouragement is a constant. Without the love and undying support from the people in my life‐‐my colleagues, my students, and my family‐‐I would not be the teacher I am today. As Vincent van Gogh once said, “It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.”    Kathleen Sweet




2013 Susan Noonan
2012 Ronda Sternhagen
2011 Nancy Sojka
2010 Margaret Parks
2009 Kenneth Esveld
2008 Christine Noel
2007 Pat Grubb
2006 Rebecca Kobos
2005 Dave Pratt
2004 Christine Laue
2003 Sally Rasmussen
2002 Laurie Olk
2001 Barbara Caldwell
2000 Joyce Green
1999 Kyra Wilcox Conley
1998 Don Heggen
1997 Marilyn Green
1996 Christine Noel
1995 Pat Watson
1994 Cliff Coussens
1993 Joel Franken
1992 Polly Brotherton
1991 Kathleen Amelien
1990 Lynda Black
1989 Phil Murrell
1988 Joline De Jong
1987 Nan Mercier
1986 Martha Tauton
1985 Betty Lake
1984 Mary Jane Gill
1983 Kim Stastny