Educator with local roots wins $25K award
A West Virginia middle school science teacher who grew up in Rhinebeck and graduated from John A. Coleman Catholic High School in the town of Ulster has won a $25,000 Milken Educator Award.
Erika Klose received the honor Monday at Winfield Middle School in Winfield, W.Va., from Steven Paine, the state superintendent of schools, and Jane Foley, senior vice president for Milken Educator Awards.
A press release about Klose winning the award said she “loves giving her students the opportunity to imagine themselves in real science situations, whether it’s a treasure hunt using GPS units, or turning her classroom into a water quality testing lab or wearing protective glasses to view the recent solar eclipse.”
“They think they’re having fun — she knows they’re learning by experience,” the release said.
The magazine Teacher has called the Milken Educator Awards the “Oscars of teaching.”
“Erika Klose was out in the science field and working in other areas before catching the bug of teaching,” Foley said in a prepared statement. “Her drive to teach middle school and make science education interesting and attainable to everyone is the type of leadership we see in Milken educators. She is shaping minds and making an impact through an experiencebased and lab-oriented classroom for her young scientists.”
Paine, also in a prepared statement, said he “couldn’t be more thrilled for Erika to receive this incredible honor. She has made significant contributions to West Virginia education and truly influences the lives of her students every day.”
Klose earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from Smith College in 1997, a master’s disagree in geological sciences in 1999 from Lehigh University, and a master’s in teaching in 2007 from Marshall University.
The are no rules about how the $25,000 award is to be spent. Past recipients, according to the press release, have used the money to fund their children’s education or their own continuing education. Others have financed field trips, established scholarships and funded the adoption of children.
Klose is one of about 45 Milken Education Award honorees nationwide for 2017-18.