AEI History of Awards

AEI Secondary Art Educator Award

Secondary Art Educator Award

Norwalk High School

I believe that you are what you experience.

You are where you came from.

You are where you have traveled.

You are those you have met.

You are those you have loved.

You are what you have read.

You are what you have seen.

You are what you have created.

You are what you believe.

You are your hopes and dreams.

You are hardships and successes.

You are your fears.

You are the lessons you have learned.

I am honored to even be nominated for this award. After looking at the list of past recipients; I have a hard time imagining that I fall within the level of these talented people. In accepting this honor, I must immediately offer thanks to those who have helped me along my life’s journey.  The person, artist and teacher I am today is the product of those I have known in my lifetime; family, friends, art teachers and professors, artist friends, colleagues, and most of all, my students.

My students push me to become a better teacher and challenge me to learn new media, techniques, and technologies. It is my students that I answer to; it is them I fail if I do not strive to achieve my best.

To become a better teacher it is important to be a student, a life long learner. My creative soul just itches when I get the new schedule of classes from the Des Moines Art Center, receive the latest catalogs of supplies or plop down in the art aisle at the library or book store.  With each course I take or book I read, I am exposed to another way to teach, create or see. I enjoy being a student, watching a demonstration, taking notes, taking risks and trying something new. That is why it is so important to me to come to the AEI Conference every year even if it means taking a personal day.  It is an important part of feeding the creative soul… talking to those who are like me…starving for something new…thirsting for knowledge…itching to create.

As someone once told me, “It is not enough to be gifted, it’s how you cultivate and share the gift that is important. A gift is meant to be given.”