Six Hanover County Public Schools teachers have received the 2024 R.E.B. Award for Teaching Excellence, which recognizes them as outstanding teachers who demonstrate a sincere passion for teaching while also serving as mentors, coaches, and champions for their students.
Joined by members of the Hanover County School Board, Dr. Lisa Pennycuff, Interim Superintendent of Schools, announced each winner at their school during faculty meetings during the week of October 28. Combined, the six winners will receive cash grants of $73,300 to travel the world to continue their own learning and bring it back to the classroom. Nominated by students, parents, and colleagues, the educators are among 18 winners from across the Richmond region chosen by the Community Foundation and the R.E.B. Foundation as being considered among the best in their field.
“I could not be prouder of these teachers for their wonderful work serving the students of Hanover County,” said Dr. Lisa Pennycuff, Interim Superintendent of Schools. “They are incredibly deserving of this recognition. I am excited both for them to experience their planned travels and for how they will incorporate their experiences into the classroom, continuing to provide the highest quality education to our students.”
Said Hanover County School Board Chair Mr. Bob May of the South Anna District: “We are blessed in Hanover County to have exceptional teachers inspiring and educating our students. These recipients are incredibly deserving of this esteemed recognition and the travels it will take them on. I look forward to how their adventures and first-hand learning will, in turn, help our students learn and grow.”
Sheri Castle, who teaches special education in the general education English classroom, received $15,000 to help her explore historically significant cities in Europe and the United States to study specific themes in order to cultivate a culture of empathy through book clubs and literacy instruction.
“I am very honored to have received this award and thankful to the families that nominated me. I am blessed to work with incredible students and colleagues at Atlee High School. Receiving this award is an exciting, humbling, and memorable experience that will certainly be a highlight of my professional career,” she said. “Lately, students are struggling to process global events and show compassion for the hardships of other people and I see a need to develop empathy skills in our students. I will be traveling to historically significant cities in Europe, the U.S., and Virginia to study themes of human struggle, suffering, war, famine, persecution, loss, and civil rights found in connected texts in our classroom libraries. Through travel, I plan to conduct interviews with docents, collect artifacts, texts, pictures, and oral histories of real life characters that will allow opportunities to teach the skill of practicing empathy through book clubs and literacy instruction.”
Emily Layne, a second grade teacher at Battlefield Park Elementary School, received $15,000 to explore the 13 original colonies and beyond, visiting historical sites and learning more about historical figures.
“I am very honored to be recognized with the R.E.B. Award. I have worked with many amazing educators during my career in Hanover that molded me into the teacher that I am today,” said Mrs. Layne, a 22-year teaching veteran. “I have been blessed to be part of such a supportive community. I am so thankful to have this opportunity to explore new places that will enhance my knowledge and teaching.”
She added: “This trip will provide me with background knowledge and firsthand experiences to effectively teach my students.”
Jordan Patterson, the band director at Chickahominy Middle School, received $10,000 to travel the U.S. to observe thriving band programs in Colorado, California, and Texas.
“It means the world to me to be recognized for the R.E.B. Award! I never dreamed that I would get to experience first-hand thriving band programs across the country, but now it is a reality!” said Mr. Patterson, a 15-year teaching veteran. “The recognition is humbling, and I am so grateful to the Hanover community for it!”
He added about his trip: “Through seeing these vastly different programs which are all wildly successful, I will bring that knowledge back to my students and my colleagues, making Hanover an even better place for music. I am beyond thankful for this once in a lifetime opportunity!”
Kristine Hoben, a mathematics teacher at Liberty Middle School, received $12,300 to travel to four countries to learn more about the integration of mathematics with history, culture, and geography.
“It was an honor to be nominated. It is a special opportunity I have been given to help me become a better teacher and peer,” she said. “I want to thank Christi Bacon for nominating me and believing that I was capable of creating an experience that would help me grow as an educator and peer. A big thank you to my family and friends for helping me brainstorm, research, listening and having patience with me as I worked through many many ideas. I am deeply grateful for being chosen for this opportunity and process.”
The 16-year teaching veteran added about her trip: “This experience underscores the importance of contextual learning and demonstrates how mathematics can be taught through the lens of history, culture, and geography, therefore making it more relatable, accessible, and appealing. By incorporating geocaching and creating thinking tasks I am enhancing critical thinking, problem solving, and spatial reasoning skills for students and adults alike. The professional development that is soaked in from all four countries is helping me prove mathematical connections with other content areas and share with my colleagues how collaborative lessons are entertaining and a learning moment. This escapade will transform the way students perceive and engage with mathematics by integrating it with exciting real-world applications.”
Erin Cobb, a government teacher at Patrick Henry High School, received $10,800 to travel to California to learn more about civil rights by visiting a variety of museums and attractions, such as the Women's Museum of California, the California African American Museum, and the Fred Korematsu Institute. Mrs. Cobb also plans to visit Yosemite National Park and Joshua Tree to learn more about the funding and regulation of national parks through the federal bureaucracy.
“I'm so very fortunate to have a career that I love. I don't go to ‘work’ each day, I go to ‘school,’ and this school is my family. My boys go to school at PH, my husband is a coach at PH, I have the coolest and most supportive principal in the business, the most amazing coworkers, and the absolute BEST students,” said Mrs. Cobb, a 17-year teaching veteran. “To be recognized at this moment, surrounded by my family/PHamily, is indescribable. I'm beyond excited to have this opportunity to learn and enhance my classroom.”
She added: “It is my hope for this whole experience to help me continue to make the content relevant to my students by providing real life experiences and connections.”
Jacquelyn Minter, a cosmetology teacher at The Hanover Center for Trades and Technology for 14 years, received $10,200 to explore different cultures from around the world through the eyes of Disney.
“Receiving the R.E.B. Award is a huge honor to me. The fact that someone took the time out to reflect on the things that they see you doing in the classroom is super meaningful to me,” she said. “You hope that you are making an impact on students every single day and it's truly a feel-good moment when someone sees the passion that you have for your career.”
She added about her trip: “In my career it's so important that you respect and engage in the beauty of people's unique qualities. Disney employs people from 80 countries all over the world. I want to study how they embrace the beauty of their characters through makeup and hair and turn them into magical characters that children grow up to love and adore that represent a mirror version of their own unique qualities.”
The awards program, which is a partnership between the Community Foundation for a greater Richmond and the R.E.B. Foundation, recognizes excellence in public education by awarding cash grants to outstanding public school teachers from the City of Richmond, the counties of Chesterfield, Henrico, and Hanover, and the Department of Correctional Education.