Two educators with ties to Lawrence University have been recipients of awards from the Wisconsin Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (WACTE).
Cheryl Meyer, a vocal music specialist at Appleton’s Jefferson Elementary School,
is one of the 2016 winners of WACTE’s Pre-Service Educator Mentor Award while Britta Luteyn, a 2012 Lawrence graduate, has been named an Early Career Educator Award winner.
Both will be honored Sunday, May 1at the home of Lawrence University President Mark Burstein.
Meyer and Luteyn were selected for the awards by faculty of Lawrence’s college and conservatory teacher education program. Each state college or university that belongs to WACTE was invited to select a recipient for each award.
The Mentor Award recognizes an outstanding educator who has demonstrated a sustained pattern of mentoring pre-service educators for at least five years.
Meyer has spent 31 years as a music teacher at Jefferson Elementary. She also has taught at the Fox River Academy and has spent 24 years at the Lawrence Academy of Music as one of the conductors of the Girl Choir, where she has been praised by students for the “unconditional respect she consistently offers to children and adults.”
Jefferson Elementary School Principal Lori Leschisin called Meyer “the most caring music teacher that I have ever had the honor of working with.”
During her career, Meyer has mentored 31 student teachers.
Stewart Purkey, Bee Connell Mielke Professor of Education and associate professor of education at Lawrence, said he “cannot think of a more deserving recipient of this award. Cheryl truly models the change we wish to see in this world.”
Meyer earned a bachelor of music degree from UW-Madison.
The Early Career Educator Award honors outstanding educators within the first three years of their professional career.
Luteyn, who earned her Lawrence degree with a major in Spanish, is a fourth grade bilingual dual-language immersion teacher at Carl Sandburg Elementary School in Madison.
Citing her intelligence and instructional skill coupled with her kind, positive nature, Brett Wilfrid, principal at Sandburg Elementary, praised Luteyn as an “excellent educator” and consummate teammate” with whom colleagues request to work.
In congratulating Luteyn, Purkey referenced education pioneer Maria Montessori, who believed the fate of the future laid within all children.
“On behalf of Lawrence, we are honored to give this award to Britta, who, by touching the lives of the children under her care, creates a better future for all.
“We’re confident that in the years to come,” Purkey added, “her demonstrated enthusiasm for multicultural teaching and her passionate commitment to her students’ academic and emotional growth will make her a teacher children adore and parents seek out.”
About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College” and Fiske’s Guide to Colleges 2016. Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.
