Oklahoma’s Donna Gradel, a science teacher and girls’ basketball coach at Broken Arrow High School, recognized as 2018 Teacher of the Year
Oklahoma’s 2018 Teacher of the Year is Donna Gradel, a high school science teacher and girls’ basketball coach. Donna has taught at Broken Arrow High School in northeastern Oklahoma near Tulsa for 21 years. She taught in West Virginia for seven years before moving to Oklahoma.
Throughout her career, Donna has led her students in projects that explore ways they can help improve their local environment. The students have already helped their city to develop and implement low-cost,solar-powered solutions that improve the city’s water quality. The students have also worked on developing aquaponic systems to help feed people living in poverty in Kenya.
Donna once said that there are three principals at the core of her practice as an educator. “Number One: All students can learn regardless of their starting point, she declared. “Number Two: All students have a sense of purpose, and they want to make a difference in the world,” she continued. “And Number Three: All students need to know that their teacher has a genuine concern for them and is willing to be their champion,” she concluded.
In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Donna serves as her school’s Science Department Chair and is an advocate for STEM curriculum and facilities. In 2015, she was one of ten educators throughout the nation to the receive the Henry Ford Innovation Nation Innovative Teacher Award. She was the recipient of the 2017 Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators which recognized her innovative approach to environmental education. And as if all this were not enough, Donna has also coached her school’s girls’ basketball team to a state championship.
Donna earned her Bachelor’s degree in 1982 and her Master’s degree in 1983, both from West Virginia University.