2021-2022
Martin Elementary & District Teacher of the Year
Christina (Nikki) Kupec - Nikki simply strives for excellence with all of her learners. Do you know that one teacher you had that believed in you, treated you like you were one of "those" gifted students (even if others said/showed something different)? Nikki Kupec is THAT teacher.
She holds her learners to standards and respects them. Not willing to accept mediocre effort, Nikki will push a learner to work and feel proud of themselves afterward.
She embodies all of the qualities of a courageous leader. Her number one concern has always been the well-being and academic growth of learners. Through this prioritizing, she instinctively challenges and offers colleagues feedback and input. By keeping the focus on the learners, she actually lifts up her colleagues. This is what a courageous leader does:
lifts up those around them to become better people, teachers, and community members. At one of the first large group PD Equity meetings when it came around to Nikki sharing and she nervously said, "I'm learning more and more. I just hope to continue to grow in my awareness and work in equity," this is a fine example of her willingness to also be a vulnerable, courageous leader.
A very busy individual, she will always find time to tuck in a collaboration session with you to look at data, talk about special cases and brainstorm how to improve practices. If she can't meet with you later, she'll meet with you earlier.
Nikki speaks up for what she believes in, and she genuinely has the best interest of every student in her heart. She is willing to push back when she feels a student’s needs are being compromised or in times when injustices or equity issues come up.
She is passionate about equity work and strives to improve intervention to reflect this work at Martin. Nikki Kupec embodies all 4 core pillars and is, therefore, an excellent example of a Teacher of the Year!
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