School District of New Berlin Recognized With Three Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Awards

A School District of New Berlin teacher and two graduating high school seniors have been chosen as Herb Kohl Educational Foundation award winners.

Erika Mayer, a second grade teacher at Orchard Lane Elementary, has been awarded a Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Fellowship Award. Mayer is in her fifth year at Orchard Lane. She is one of 100 teachers around the state to earn this year’s $3,000 award.

Fellowship recipients are educators who have been chosen for their superior ability to inspire a love of learning in their students, their ability to motivate others, and their leadership service within and outside the classroom.

Additionally, 207 graduating high school students have been recognized by the foundation, with $5,000 Excellence Scholarship awards, including New Berlin Eisenhower’s Gwenyth Gasper and New Berlin West’s Leah Mushall. Recipients have demonstrated excellence in the academic arena and high motivation to achieve, have displayed a broad range of activity and leadership outside the academic setting, and have shown strong promise for succeeding in college and beyond.

Fellowship and Excellence Scholarship recipients are selected by a statewide committee composed of civic leaders and representatives of education-related associations and the program’s co-sponsors: The Wisconsin Newspaper Association Foundation, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Wisconsin Council of Religious and Independent School, regional Cooperative Educational Service Agencies and the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators.

“We are extremely proud of all of our Herb Kohl award recipients,” Superintendent Joe Garza said. “Their selections reflect positively not only on their accomplishments, but also on their schools, this district and our community. It is an honor to have our students and staff recognized for their above-and-beyond efforts and dedication.”

The Kohl Foundation Scholarship and Fellowship program was established by Herb Kohl, U.S. Senator (Retired), in 1990. To date, the foundation has awarded $11.5 million to Wisconsin educators, students, and schools.

“Education is the key to the future of Wisconsin and our nation,” Kohl said. “I am very proud of the accomplishments of these students, teachers and principals and look forward to the great contributions they will make in the future.”

Mayer, Gasper and Mushall, along with other regional winners, have been invited to be recognized at a luncheon at Greendale High School, 6801 Southway, Greendale, on Saturday, April 8.