SVVSD Teacher of the Year honors awarded

The Education Foundation of the Saint Vrain Valley School District recently announced the winners of their 2020 Tribute to Teachers, which honors individual teachers at the Pre-K through 12th grade, who exemplify excellence in teaching. In what has been an unprecedented end of the academic year, these three award-winners have continued to play a critical role in the growth and development of the youngest members of our community.

Jess Esinhart: Legacy Elementary School

Jess Esinhart is no stranger to the Teacher of the Year Award-she has been nominated several times and received the honor one time previously. She has been teaching at Legacy Elementary for 11 years, originally teaching first grade before moving into her current role as a second grade teacher.

Her class ranges in size from 20-29 students, and she describes her teaching style as structured but fun, with a focus on giving her students a foundation of necessary skills and knowledge for the 21st century. "People know that I can be kind of goofy, and I want the students to have fun," she said.

As her class has made the move to online, she has tried to bring this same structured, but fun environment to remote learning. Though she greatly misses the in-person interactions with her students, she has clearly been able to maintain a high level of care and connection with her students and their parents, although it hasn't been easy. But providing this level of individual support for each and every one of her students is, for her, all part of the job. "Teachers truly want every student to succeed," she said.

And as part of a teaching community that has had to face some unexpected challenges during the school year, Esinhart is thankful for the community recognition. "I just feel really humbled and grateful," she said. And as for what she loves most about teaching, she said it's endless. "It fills my heart to watch a student apply the skills I've taught them. My students make me want to be a better person."

Ashley Roth: Sunset Middle School

Middle school teacher Ashley Roth has been teaching for five years at Sunset Middle School, and, on average, teaches about 150 to 200 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students each year. She is a first time recipient of the Teacher of the Year award.

Roth teaches primarily French, but also teaches a student government class that focuses on empowering students to become leaders at the school. She describes her teaching style as engaging, immersive, and authentic. She strives to give her students more than just the basics, noting, "It's really important that the students are engaged in the classroom and are active learners. My classroom is largely centered around communication. I try to use authentic ways for them to communicate as well as connect them to the culture."

According to Sunset Middle School principal Anthony Barela, the award was well deserved. "Ashley is an amazing teacher," he said. "She has a number of strengths which include her empathy, flexibility, and her drive to be the best. Ashley is constantly searching for high level, thought provoking, real world challenges to tax her students."

Transitioning with her students to remote learning has been both challenging and rewarding for Roth. "It's cool so see connections continue in the online environment as well," she said while noting that distance learning does require making an extra effort to stay in touch with everyone. "The most important part of all this is maintaining my relationships with students and parents."

And while she is honored and thankful for the Teacher of the Year Award, she finds her greatest reward in working with her students. "The most rewarding part of my job is seeing the students' growth and development and opening up students' eyes to the world to see how they experience things," Roth said. "Ultimately, seeing them empowered to continue their education."

Kelly Bernhardt: Niwot Elementary School

First grade teacher Kelly Bernhardt has been teaching at Niwot Elementary for six years. Next year will mark 20 years of teaching for her, and during this time, she has been a Channel 9 News 9 Teachers Who Care nominee and has also been nominated and recognized by the Education Foundation five previous times.

Her first grade class usually ranges from about 22 to 24 students. She said that she strives to make her classroom structured and lighthearted. "I try to hold the kids to a high standard and have a lot of rigor in their learning. Relationships are key, so we build rapport and there's a lot of love in my classroom. I work on really understanding where kids are and who they are and then meeting them at that place and helping them move forward. We laugh a lot, and we work hard."

Nancy Pitz, principal of Niwot Elementary, said the school is fortunate to have her. "Kelly is an amazing teacher. She works hard to build relationships with every student, and those relationships last a lifetime. She is creative, engaging, innovative, hardworking, and fun."

The move to online teaching hasn't been easy for Bernhardt, who emphasizes how important in person interactions are-she misses being able to give a student a hug or see their latest project in person. "We miss each other. I'm really trying to keep that connectedness." She said the kids miss her "dad jokes" and she misses being able to pass sticky notes to the kids telling them how much she appreciates them.

But even in the challenging times, Bernhardt never loses sight of what she loves about teaching first graders. "It's amazing watching the kids grow and learn, especially first grade, which is such a monumental year of growth for so many kids."

She noted that it is really nice to be recognized, specifically because it means someone took the time to submit an application to recognize her work. "It's like being on the receiving end of a random act of kindness."

And as one of many outstanding educators in the community, she ended with a shoutout to all the teachers who are going above and beyond for students during this time, "They are making an impact and a difference and are amazing and deserving as well."