Neuqua Valley High School English teacher Laura Dabezic is one of 30 finalists for the 2022 Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching.
The Golden Apple Foundation, an Illinois-based nonprofit focused on advancing the teaching profession, will narrow the list to a final group of winners who will each be surprised this spring with a $5,000 cash prize and a paid spring sabbatical.
Dabezic teaches 9th- and-11th-grade English at the Naperville school, which is part of Indian Prairie School District 204.
“No teacher goes into teaching expecting (to win) awards. But it is so cool to be recognized by my colleagues,” said Dabezic, 49, who’s worked at Neuqua Valley for 21 years. “I’m so honored and humbled. It’s been a good opportunity for me to reflect on the things I do and how I do it and why I do it.”
In the statement released on the finalists, Dabezic was cited for her efforts to demonstrate to her students how much progress they can make.
“In her own words — and the words of many others — Dabezic starts her first day of English instruction with a motley crew of students who, over the course of six months, turn into a fierce group of writing superheroes capable of taking down any argumentative or rhetoric-based question that arises on their AP test,” the release said.
“With her signature legal pad at hand, Dabezic starts each school year by assigning prompts from the previous year’s national AP English test, and takes notes on what students already know about composing a well-crafted argumentative essay,” according to the news release.
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Dabezic doesn’t grade the prompts. Instead, she collects them from each student and gives them back months later so they can observe their growth, the release said. Nothing “bolsters her students’ confidence quite like seeing how far they’ve come,” it said.
Someone in the English Department nominated her, she said, and she needed to submit essays on five different topics in order to make it to the next level. She learned via email Tuesday that she’d made the finalists’ list.
She, too, found out about being named a finalist Tuesday when she checked her emails in between a passing period.
“I just literally gasped,” Dabezic said. “Of course, I couldn’t contain my excitement in front of my students. I told them what it was and they were all very excited.”
The process of whittling the finalist list down to the ultimate winners is described as highly competitive and a means of honoring outstanding teachers who demonstrate and leave long-lasting, positive impacts on their students, the release said.
“These last two years have truly taken a toll on teachers, staff, families, and students,” Golden Apple President Alan Mather said. “While great teachers have always been impactful, this is particularly true during this past year, where these finalists have demonstrated the commitment to providing ongoing support and high-quality instruction to their students and we are proud to honor them.”
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