ETHS Teacher Corey Winchester Named Golden Apple Finalist

EVANSTON, IL — Evanston Township High School teacher Corey Winchester has been selected as a finalist for a 2019 Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. For the first time in the award's more than three decades of history, teachers at every school district in the state are eligible. More than 550 high school teachers were nominated from 71 counties, the nonprofit Golden Apple Foundation announced Monday.

"The historic opportunity to bring the recognition of the Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching to all of the schools and teachers in Illinois is thrilling for us and we are delighted to honor these outstanding 32 finalists," said Alan Mather, president of the foundation.

Winchester currently teaches U.S. History, Sociology of Class, Gender and Race and an independent study program called Critical Leadership Development.

"I am extremely humbled by the initial nomination and for the recognition of my work as an educator at ETHS, in the Evanston community, and in the extended Chicagoland area," Winchester said Tuesday. "I have been blessed with people in my life who have supported me as a learner and who have allowed for me to grow and to develop into my authentic self. The reciprocity of what I have had access to as a person drives my work as an educator."

In more than a decade at Evanston Township High School, Winchester, a Philadelphia native, has been repeatedly honored by local and national organizations as an outstanding educator.

"I am thankful for all of my students as it has been a privilege to be able to serve as their teacher. I am thankful for my family and friends for their love. I am thankful for my colleagues who push me and support my development as an educator," he said.

Winchester began as a tutor at ETHS while attending Northwestern University, which he graduated as a secondary teaching major in 2010. In 2013, Winchester was recognized with an award of excellence from District 202 in the Outstanding Early Career Educator category. In 2014, the Illinois State Board of Education gave Winchester the Those Who Excel award. In 2015, Winchester was selected for a Fulbright-Hays award. In 2016, Loyola University, from which Winchester earned a master's of education and served as an adjunct instructor, honored him with a distinguished alumnus award.

"Corey is an exemplary social justice educator and an alumnus that our School of Education can take considerable pride in," the university announced.

In December 2018, Winchester was selected as one of 20 Illinois teachers named teaching policy fellows with Teach Plus, a national nonprofit designed to engage teachers to become leaders in transforming the system to best serve students of color.

Winchester served four years on the board of the nonprofit Evanston Scholars, a college access program supporting first-generation, low-income and students of color. He has also been recognized for his work with the Students Organized Against Racism ETHS student group since 2012.

"All of the work that I do as an educator is to disrupt the white, heteronormative, cisnormative, classist, colonial patriarchy that exists in our society," Winchester said in an online biography. "It is a constant journey for me in this work, but it's what I strive to do. While I know that these systems and institutions will not go away overnight, it is my hope that those who come after me can negotiate our world in a safer and oppression-free society."

A selection committee of master educators will observe the finalists' teaching with in-person classroom visits. Members of the committee will also interview colleagues, administrators, students and community members, according to the foundation.

All finalists will be honored Feb. 23 at a celebration at Tinley Park Convention Center. The winners will be notified in the spring with surprise visits at their schools. All recipients will be featured on an hourlong public television broadcast recorded and broadcast live May 18 and taped on future dates.

"Golden Apple is honored to recognize outstanding educators whose quality of teaching and passion for growing their students create an environment in which students are inspired to persevere and attain their dreams," said CEO Alicia Winckler.

Those awarded Golden Apples receive a $5,000 cash award and a spring sabbatical from Northwestern University at no cost. The winners also become fellows in the Golden Apple Academy of Educators to support present and future educators, including Golden Apple scholars, aspiring teachers who hope to teach in the state's most needy schools.