APPLETON, WIS. — Dana Neuenfeldt, an English teacher in the Green Lake School District, and Keith Musolff, a physical science teacher at Kennedy Middle School in Germantown will be recognized Sunday, June 10 with Lawrence University’s Outstanding Teaching in Wisconsin Award during the college’s 158th commencement. Both will receive a certificate, a citation and a monetary award.
Lawrence has honored Wisconsin teachers for education excellence annually since 1985. Recipients, nominated by Lawrence seniors, are selected on their abilities to communicate effectively, create a sense of excitement in the classroom, motivate their students to pursue academic excellence while showing a genuine concern for them in, as well as outside, the classroom.
A native of Ripon, Neuenfeldt has taught English courses in grades 8-12 in Green Lake since 1995. Her classes have encompassed the breadth of the department curriculum, including American, British, world and science fiction literature, poetry, creative writing and advanced composition. She spent the first seven years of her career working with the Green Lake forensics team, including five (1997-2002) as its head coach. She currently serves as a member of the National Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
“Mrs. Neuenfeldt expected the best work out of every student that walked through her door,” Lawrence senior Katie Smith, a 2003 Green Lake graduate, wrote in her nomination letter. “She genuinely cared for each and every one of us. She was always willing to bend her schedule to match yours, whether you needed to make up a test before or after school, or needed help writing a paper during her one free period during the day. She truly wanted everyone to succeed in whatever their chosen path and if she could help in some way, she did.”
Four times between 2002 and 2006, Neuenfeld was one of two Green Lake district teachers presented the Trailways Conference Significant Educator Award. Chosen by the school’s top two graduating seniors, the award honors two teachers who made a significant difference in the life of the students.
A 1990 graduate of Ripon High School, Neuenfeldt earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Ripon College and a master’s degree in professional development in education from UW-La Crosse.
Musolff, who retired at the end of the 2006-07 school year, had taught in the Germantown School District since 1972, including the last 20 years at Kennedy Middle School. During his career, Musolff taught third and fifth grades, reading and literature for grades 6-8, 6th-grade social studies as well as his current subject, physical science. From 1999-2003, he served as the coordinator of Kennedy Middle School’s Gifted and Talented program.
Actively engaged outside of the classroom, Musolff directed the school’s annual musical production all 20 years he taught there, served as coach of the Odyssey of the Mind: Destination Imagination program from 1990-2002, spent five years as the advisor to the Mathcounts team and directed Camp Invention, a national science and math camp for 2-6 graders for Germantown, Cedarburg and Grafton students from 2000-04.
He also served as the advisor to Germantown Builder’s Club, a middle school version of the Kiwanis service organization. During his five-year tenure with the club, he helped students in grades 6-8 organize community projects that raised more than $145,000 for the American Cancer Society.
In addition to being a student of Musolff’s, Lawrence senior Eric Armour spent a year working with him as a teacher’s aide in the Gifted and Talented Program, developing deep respect for Musolff’s work with high-risk children.
“It was not a one-size-fits-all method with Keith,” Armour wrote in nominating his former teacher for the award. “He took each student individually and determined the best course of instruction. Whether that meant an accelerated curriculum or more depth in a specific field depended entirely on the individual student. Keith was truly an example of how individualized learning can be effectively applied even as early as middle school.”
A member of the National, Wisconsin and Germantown Education Associations, Musolff earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from UW-Milwaukee and a master’s degree as a reading specialist from Cardinal Stritch University.
