Minnesota dance and physical education teacher Nicole Peterson of West Fargo, North Dakota, has earned a 2019 SHAPE America Teacher of the Year Award.

One of the most amazing physical education teachers I have heard about is Nicole Peterson, a dance and physical education teacher from West Fargo, North Dakota. She was named a SHAPE America National Teacher of the Year in 2019. Award honorees are selected in response to their outstanding programs in adapted physical education, dance education, health education, and physical education.

Nicole received a crystal apple, flowers, a gift from her West Fargo Public School District and the local school board, and a $500 check from the West Fargo Educational Foundation. “I just want to give back to the community what I got out of this [city] and high school,” Nicole expressed. “I really like who I work with, my co-workers and the administration are all great. The culture of the school here is amazing and challenging all at the same time,” she concluded. In addition to her SHAPE Award, Nicole was named the 2018-2019 West Fargo Public Schools Teacher of the Year

Nicole teaches dance and physical education at West Fargo High School in West Fargo. In fact, she teaches at her alma mater. She graduated from West Fargo High in 1996. The honored educator has held that position for the past 16 years. Prior to West Fargo, she taught health and physical education in Henning, Minnesota.

Nicole earned her Bachelor’s degree from Concordia College in Health and Physical Education from Moorhead, Minnesota, in 2000. She earned her Master’s degree from North Dakota in Curriculum and Instruction in 2013.

To read more about Nicole, see this article published in the West Fargo Pioneer.

Physical Education teacher Jennifer Butler of West Virginia passed away from Covid-19 on April 14, 2020.

Sadly, Covid-19 has claimed the life of another dedicated educator. Jennifer Butler, a physical education teacher from West Virginia, passed away from the disease on April 14, 2020. She was only 57 years old.

Jennifer was born in Martinsburg, Berkeley County, West Virginia, to Jennings Lee Ashton, Jr., and Amelia Ashton. As a young girl, Jennifer attended Martinsburg High School, where she graduated in 1981. After high school, Jennifer earned her Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from Shepherd University. Shepherd is a public university located in Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, West Virginia.

Once she obtained her degree, Jennifer taught at several elementary schools in her home state. At the time of her passing, she was teaching at Hedgesville Elementary School in Hedgesville, West Virginia.

“Jenny Butler has been an unshakable presence in the education of our children,” remembered the school’s Principal Melissa D. Hollen.  “Her quiet kindness and creative lessons always made student health and well-being the centerpiece of her teaching.”

Florida PE teacher Lin-J Shell foiled a potential incidence of violence at his school.

Many talented educators have also had successful careers as athletes. One of these is Wagner Lindsell Shell, Jr., also known as Lin-J Shell. He is a former professional football player who now teaches high school physical education. But he’s probably best known for foiling an incident of potential violence at his Florida school.

Lin-J was born Oct. 22, 1981. As a young man, Lin-J played college football at Jacksonville. Later he became a professional football player, occupying the position of defensive back. He played in both the American and the Canadian Football League from 2004 to 2015. Teams he played for include the Philadelphia Eagles, the New Orleans VooDoo, the Calgary Stampeders, the Toronto Argonauts, the BC Lions, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. For his athletic prowess, Lin-J was named an East All-Star for the Canadian Football League in 2010 and 2011. He also garnered a Grey Cup in 2014.

After he concluded his career as a pro-ball player, Lin-J accepted a position as a physical education teacher at jean Ribault High School in Jacksonville, Florida. On May 9, 2018, Lin-J helped to prevent a woman from using a handgun in the school gymnasium when a brawl broke out. The fight was triggered when the woman became angry about a social media post involving her nephew, who happened to be one of Lin-J’s students. The woman went to the gym with four men. “She got out of the car, she was irate, basically saying she wasn’t going to let anyone jump on her family,” recalled Lin-J. When the teacher noticed that she was holding a gun, he went straight for the firearm. “I came from behind her, I saw she had a gun, I grabbed her hand, put her hand down and hit her elbow,” he continued. Then Lin-J walked the woman backwards out of the gym, holding her arm so that the gun was pointed toward the floor. All the while, he pleaded with her, “Please don’t shoot our kids.” Once he had forced the woman outside, he shouted for help from an armed officer at the school. The officer forced the woman to drop the gun and arrested her.

To read more about the incident, see this onlline article from Bell Media.

Physical Education teacher and coach Stacie Lawler named Idaho’s 2020 State Teacher of the Year. She earned the honor for her work combating the stigma of mental health issues.

Physical Education teacher and coach Stacie Lawler of Spirit Lake, Idaho, has just been named her state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year. Congratulations, Stacie!

Stacie has been a teacher in the Lakeland Joint School District in Spirit Lake, Idaho, for 11 years. She inaugurated her career as a physical education teacher at Twin Lakes Elementary. While there, she designed and delivered a new curriculum for K-6 physical education. She also developed a grade 7-8 curriculum at Timberlake Junior High, where she has taught since 2014. In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Stacie coaches cross-country and track, helps coach the cheerleading squad, and was the lead in setting up a successful district-wide Life Awareness Relay.

But Stacie earned her recognition from the Idaho State Department of Education for her work towards combating the stigma around mental health issues. Her campaign started when she made the difficult decision to reveal to her students the struggle of some of her family members with mental health issues. She says this inaugurated a valuable dialogue that made textbook issues real. And it freed students to address their own challenges. Since then, Stacie has been asked to share her experiences with co-workers, parents and others. She has vigorously advocated the distribution of mental health resources to her students.

Stacie also works towards increasing the knowledge of the subject for her fellow teachers. “I believe a major issue in public education today is educators’ lack of knowledge about mental health,” asserts Stacie. “It’s a frightening position to be in when you are ill-equipped to deal with a crisis.” To improve the staff’s ability to respond to such a crisis, Stacie has researched and presented educational materials to her co-workers.

The chalkboard champion also takes her campaign to the community. Stacie helped launch a neighborhood coalition to talk about suicide. “We must teach our children that it is OK to talk about not being OK,” Stacie declares. “What if we had a child tell us they were thinking of killing themselves and we knew what to do about it?”

As the 2020 Idaho Teacher of the Year, Stacie will serve as a spokesperson and representative for Idaho educators. She will travel to Washington D.C. as Idaho’s nominee for National Teacher of the Year.

To read the announcement of Stacie’s selection, click on this link: Idaho State Department of Education.