The winners of the 2023 Crystal Apple Award were honored in a red carpet gala Friday, Feb. 10, at the Salem Convention Center.
In its 24th year, the awards are presented by the McLaran Leadership Foundation and the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, intended as “the community’s opportunity to say THANK YOU to the teachers, administrators and support staff we partner with,” according to a website dedicated to the awards.
From 89 nominees from employees in the Salem-Keizer School District and private and charter schools, 15 went home with crystal apples.
The winners:
Gabriella Steinlicht
An employee of the district for the past 14 years, Steinlicht works as an instructional assistant at Kennedy Elementary School. Her duties range from implementing key systems for staff and student success to overseeing recess.
“Gabrielle balances compassionate warmth with high expectations to create the perfect learning environment for young minds,” wrote Maegan Lamb, fourth grade teacher at Kennedy.
Additionally, Steinlicht serves as “a shoulder to lean on when staff are struggling,” Lamb wrote.
Hortencia Navarrete
Navarrete, a bilingual instructional assistant at Bush Elementary School, is described as “a ray of light,” offering a “positive mantra” or Spanish poetry to brighten someone’s day.
Those are some qualities that colleague Haley Bond believes embodies Navarrete, who “never hesitates” to help English to Speakers of Other Languages classes. Navarrete is always one to “jump in” and translate for English instructors communicating with Spanish-speaking families.
Navarrete also takes those students into small groups to help them with their reading, which “they don’t find a chore,” wrote Bond.
Navarrete’s students agree.
“Maestra Navarrete is the best teacher ever,” wrote one of her students, Alonso, in artwork submitted as part of the instructional assistant’s nomination. “She gives us toys and gummy’s.”
Denise Proudfoot
Proudfoot, school nurse at South Salem High School, provides one of students’ most basic needs — health care — for them to be successful in class.
Ben Handrich, a counselor at South Salem, wrote that Proudfoot’s role is just as essential in promoting academic excellence as an engaging classroom teacher.
“Denise simply puts people first, no matter the context,” Handrich wrote.
Proudfoot was “the eye of the storm” during South Salem’s response to the pandemic, providing vital information on safety protocols to staff.
Just as passionate as she is about student wellness, Proudfoot is just as curious about parents’ “frustrations,” Handrich said. In an after hours act, Proudfoot took notes and sent an email to administrators after listening to one parent in the parking lot after school.
Megan Spickerman
Students at Chapman Hill Elementary School call her “Miss Megan.”
She is actually a behavior cadre, a support staff member who focuses on student conduct.
“Often when a student needs a ‘Miss Megan Break,’ they are able to reset and go back to class ready to learn,
Rachael Harms, Spickerman’s supervisor, wrote in her nomination.
Harms noted that in the early days of the pandemic, Spickerman would check students at home to make sure they could learn online.
“Without Miss Megan, we would have increased loss of learning time for many of our students who struggle the most,” Harms wrote.
One Chapman Hill parent, Megan Gould, called Spickerman “an absolute treasure.”
Jacqueline Pope Brothers
Brothers, a social studies teacher at Sprague High School, “dreams big” — whether it’s getting her students to simulate congressional hearings or leading the only Constitutional law team outside of the Portland metro area to compete and win competitions.
“Mrs. Pope is doing an essential job of preparing students to be actively engaged in civics and in becoming more knowledgeable participants in democracy,” wrote Shelly Warner, a Sprague High School parent.
Mei Tate, a former student of Pope’s, recalled that each Monday, Pope’s students were expected to share a current event in politics and discuss it with the rest of the class. Rather than “stay in an ideological bubble,” students were encouraged to share their political opinions and consider those different from theirs,” according to Tate.
Sigrid Olsen, a social studies teacher at Sprague, touted Pope as someone “dedicated to honing her craft,” which she did by earning a second master’s degree and earned a $25,000 scholarship in Constitutional Law.
Maricela Ruiz Herrera
Knowing the challenges non-native students face in adjusting to a new life, Herrera, a bilingual instructional assistant at McKay High School, always encourages them to continue a hobby or start a new one.
Herrera knew of a Venezuelan student at McKay who loved to play basketball and would “ask how his matches were going and kept encouraging him,” wrote Katerine Marquez, a math teacher.
On the academic side, student Jose Garcia knows the kind of teacher Herrera is.
“I want to tell you without your support, I would not have been able to get to this point in my life,” he wrote.
Michael Cape
Cape, transportation field coordinator for the Salem-Keizer School District, leads the bus driver education team and works to ensure every student gets home safe if they miss the bus.
That’s the kind of compassion typical of Cape, whose job description does not include daily interactions with students or driving a bus (except when there’s a staffing shortage), wrote Leslie Middle School Principal Jennie Madland.
“Hands down, Michael has been the best field coordinator I have ever worked with,” Madland wrote.
Others, including South Salem High School Principal Robin Buckingham and managers of the district’s transportation operations, spoke highly of Cape in nominating letters as well.
“Since he has transitioned to providing leadership to the routing team, he has been a consistent, calming influence for the group,” wrote Mitch Hamilton and David Jorgenson, managers of transportation operations for the district.
Buckingham wrote that Cape is “respectful and student-centered to ensure physical and emotional safety on our buses.”
Carl Mucken
When he’s not trying to hit “curriculum targets” or attend conferences at Notre Dame with teachers, Mucken, the principal of Queen of Peace Catholic Church, is in the hallways or on the playground.
“‘Just be a kind person,’” Co-worker Maureen Foelkl quotes Mucken as saying in nominating paperwork. “‘You don’t have to be great in every subject to be a worthwhile person.’”
Words like that “resonate indefinitely” at Queen of Peace, where Mucken can be seen eating cookies with kids or retrieving playground equipment.
But he’s a serious leader, too, making sure the Catholic school implements a science, technology, engineering and math curriculum and outdoor learning.
Dennise Pozos Gonzalez
Gonzalez, a Spanish teacher at West Salem High School, teaches Advanced Placement and dual language classes for ninth and tenth graders.
“Throughout her career, (Gonzalez) has been a champion for bilingual education,” wrote Monique Aguilar-Weaver, a Spanish teacher at West Salem. “It serves to bolster the identity of Latinx students while it expands the worldview of all students.”
Gonzalez is “a pillar of love and support” at the high school, wrote colleagues.
“She teaches her students with such passion for her subjects,” the letter stated. “Not only that, she encourages personal connection.”
Jeremy Parker
Walk into the classroom of Parker, a teacher at Auburn Elementary School, and you might think you’re in a living room.
Parker’s colleague, Beau Batsell, described a classroom adorned with plants, huge lounge chairs, toolboxes and “eclectic treasures” collected by Parker and his students over the years.
“Because Mr. Parker cultivates a classroom that operates more like a family, his students are actively engaged in all academic activities and enjoy being in school,” Batsell wrote.
Batsell described Parker as an “outside the box thinker” — and perhaps that is most evident when every school year, he asks his students to make a toolbox.
“The excitement, sense of accomplishment and pride shown on the students’ faces after admiring their final creation is priceless,” Batsell wrote.
Sarah Keck
Even before class starts in room 208, Keck, a math teacher at South Salem High School, is outside to greet her students with a smile and a laugh.
Keck learns each students’ name and so much about who they are that they are “connected with her from the start,” Tory Carey-Lundberg and Anne DiPiero wrote in nominating her.
Keck engages students in the classroom with “positive competitions” and leads by engaging with students rather than teaching from the front of the room, her colleagues wrote.
Michael Daniels
Daniels is a technology support specialist for the district whose work “echoes throughout each K-12 classroom,” according to Lynette Olsen, who works at Morningside Elementary School.
“Michael’s goal is to ultimately support the success of our students in their personal academic and social-emotional goals with ease of access through technology,” Olsen wrote.
One of Daniels’ duties includes spending time every day listening to officials in district departments who tell him about their technology needs.
“His presence is calm, joyful, supportive and it’s layered with kindness and humor,” Olsen wrote.
Daniels also is a mentor to students, like Cory Stenlund, who attended Morningside.
Cory’s father, Scott Stenlund, wrote in a nomination letter that his son picked up the importance of being “positive, outgoing and providing high quality customer service.”
Sheila Gebhardt
Even though her job as administrative specialist is more about office support and does not directly involve music, for some, Gebhardt’s name is “music to my heart.”
At least that’s the way Oribel Villalobos, office manager at North Salem High School, describes Gebhardt.
Gebhardt may not teach students how to play instruments, but she is instrumental in scheduling guest conductors and securing times and spaces for students to work during all-city ensemble weekend events.
But Gebhardt manages so many more events, wrote colleague Stephen Lytle, and does it all while managing personnel.
“Sheila always understands that our job is to give the students our best,” Lytle wrote. “She is a constant champion of our programs and our students.”
Denny McCarthy
McCarthy, principal of Straub Middle School, is not only a numbers and data guy when it comes to the operation of his school.
He stands outside of Straub in the morning to greet parents and students. During the day, he is there for students, giving them “a break or a snack,” even “an ear” if they have a concern, wrote Ali Gehring in nominating paperwork.
McCarthy is involved in the classroom if a substitute is needed and even on the field for student athletes, wrote Gehring.
The Straub principal regularly shares the story of a coach who motivated him at a time when he needed it the most. That may be why Straub eighth grader Delilah Martinez saw McCarthy as someone she could “go talk to” when she was having trouble with friends.
“He told me a quote: ‘stay curious, not judgmental,’” Martinez wrote in a letter. “Thank you, Mr. McCarthy, for never leaving my side. Never judging and encouraging me.”
Harry Ahn
Ahn, a math teacher at Blanchet Catholic School, stood out from the teacher pack in the early days of the pandemic, recording all of his lessons and dubbing it “Ahn Academy,” a play on the Khan Academy.
But Ahn has been creative in other ways as well, wrote Ahn’s supervisor, Bob Weber. Ahn was successful in getting the school to offer an introduction to engineering course since there are so many Blanchet students who are graduating from college in the field.
“He wanted to give those students a head start on their path to that degree,” Weber wrote.
Weber wrote that students commented that Ahn is “demanding” but “cares a lot about us as students and people.”
Evidence of that may be that shortly after 7 a.m. each day, Ahn is helping students who need help with the previous night’s math homework, Weber wrote.
