Loch Raven Technical Academy Teacher Receives National Award

TOWSON, MD — The Maryland State Board of Education honored a Loch Raven Technical Academy teacher this week for her work to help students become active citizens. Her pupils have shaped their middle school to be more inclusive, according to Baltimore County Public Schools.

Michelle St. Pierre was named the 2019 Maryland Civic Engagement Champion at the state school board's meeting in Baltimore Tuesday, where members celebrated her national honor as well.

She thanked many people who helped her achieve the recognition, especially her students.

"Now after 26 years of teaching, the most important influence in my life and what shapes me as a teacher are the students who walk into my classroom each and every day with hearts and minds open to learning," said St. Pierre, who teaches American history, law and finance at Loch Raven Technical Academy.

This fall St. Pierre was one of four educators honored for being a Civic Engagement Champion by the National Association of State Boards of Education in partnership with the Frank Islam Institute for 21st Century Citizenship. The award is a pilot program that spans four states from different regions around the country (other states were Illinois, Massachusetts and Washington).

It focuses on middle school, a formative time during which the institute found there was a "civic engagement gap" since most civics education programs do not start until high school.

"That adage that each student learns in their own way and not on the same day is never more represented than it is in middle school," St. Pierre said.

"Middle school students have their own hope, speak their own truth and are staunch advocates for their friends and fellow classmates during a time of their lives that often seems chaotic. These passions also allow my students to see the world as a place that can and should be changed for the better. They are willing to speak their mind in order to see their ideas become reality," St. Pierre said.

She had become "personally disenchanted" by the climate of polarization, she said. Her students' actions after the shooting in Parkland reinvigorated her.

"While adults in our nation become numb to the violence in present-day America, they have not," St. Pierre said.

Students at Loch Raven Technical Academy were motivated to organize walkouts, talks with politicians and a trip to Washington, D.C.

"My students have provided me with hope for the future with their passions and voices for change," she said.

As part of a unit in the eighth grade social studies curriculum on activism, she and fellow teacher Keith Lewis organized a Soapbox Competition that challenged students to spur their classmates into action about issues that were important to them.

In the process, they identified an issue they determined could be changed: discrimination and exclusion of students based on sexual orientation.

"As a result of their work, all teachers in the school will receive additional training on the issue," Baltimore County Public Schools reported, noting St. Pierre said she has also been mindful of the language she uses in her instruction to ensure it is inclusive.

"Learning and teaching is not just one-sided, and I encourage educators, particularly at the middle school level, to listen to the concerns of youth in our nation and realize that we are not just educators but ourselves students," she said, "and together we are citizens."

According to the National Association of State Boards of Education, the Civic Engagement Champion award spotlights educators who are models for civic engagement to inspire others.

"It's quite an honor," Karen Salmon, Ph.D., the state schools superintendent, said at the board meeting where St. Pierre was recognized by Maryland education officials this week. "We see your passion."

The national award was presented to St. Pierre in October at a ceremony in Nebraska. At the event, she was asked to be on a panel about civic engagement at the middle school level, and Maryland Board of Education President Warner Sumpter, noting he was there, said St. Pierre gave "the best answers of any of the panelists. She kept everyone engaged."

It is not the first award for St. Pierre, who won Teacher of the Year in Baltimore County from 2006 to 2007. Now a resident of the Perry Hall/Nottingham area, she is a graduate of Baltimore County Public Schools, having attended Timonium Elementary, Ridgely Middle and Dulaney High schools.

For 22 of her 26 years as an educator in the county, she has worked at Loch Raven Technical Academy, where officials said she helped create the Law and Finance magnet program, emphasizing civic and financial action and responsibility.

The Loch Raven Technical Academy teacher thanked all those who helped her along the path to the recognition, particularly her students.

"Kids still see the possibility for change. They don’t see closed doors; they see the future," St. Pierre said in a statement. "For me, it gave new meaning to being a social studies teacher. We need education to produce active citizens; without them, there is no democracy."