Levo Recognizes 8 Amazing Area Teachers

Levo Credit Union will award $500 each to 8 area teachers nominated by parents, students or community members as having made a huge impact on our kids. Levo's "Amazing Teacher Awards" in 2014. Since then, Levo has awarded more than $38,000 in classroom awards to area teachers. Levo saw almost twice as many nominations this year as last year.

“We received 98 nominations from across our service area, including Sioux Falls, Sioux City, Harrisburg, Brandon, Watertown, Montrose, and Wessington Springs – that’s more than ever before,” says Jen McKeown with the Levo Cares Foundation. “The huge increase is a testament to the high-quality educators we have in this area. Our teachers are amazing!”

Nominees were able to recognize a teacher by answering two questions:

• What impact has this teacher made on your life?
• How have they demonstrated a unique and creative teaching style?

These winners will each be presented with a $500 check for classroom expenses:

Julia Blashack, 9-12^th Grade Theater and English, Roosevelt High School, Sioux Falls, SD. Her nominator says, “Blashack has created a wonderful environment for Theatre. She is welcoming and introduces newcomers with open arms. She allowed me to feel comfortable in my skin. She allowed me to feel appreciated when everything around me felt dooming. She believed in me so hard and my will to work. She sees potential in me. She says, "You belong on the stage" Those words live in my head. It allows me to keep going.”

Garrett Buchanan, 5-6^th Grade Band Teacher, Watertown Intermediate School, Watertown, SD. Buchannan’s nominator says, “He has students at all sorts of learning levels and is often striving to find ways to keep them all engaged. To be creative and challenge students he created the schools first Jazz Band ensemble and has lots of interest to keep it running for three years now. Every year end, he is approached by parents with many thanks for how their child has blossomed in his classroom.”

Kelly Enebo, 1^st Grade Teacher, Liberty Elementary, Harrisburg, SD. Her nominator says, “On rainy days, when most people are down in the dumps, Mrs. Enebo holds dance parties in her room to lift everyone’s mood. Recently, a student of Mrs. Enebo’s broke his arm. She took time with her students to make cards. Mrs. Enebo then dropped the cards off with a care package for the student. Mrs. Enebo is teaching more than just the required curriculum. She is also teaching her students how to be good, kind, and caring people.”

Amy Lundquist, 1^st Grade, Lennox Elementary School, Lennox, SD. Her nominator says, “Under Amy's guidance, my daughter has not only excelled academically but has also matured emotionally and socially. The best encouragement to get children to read at home is to have parents sign off on a sheet that the student read so many minutes/pages. at the end of the month, if they reach the goal, they get to enjoy lunch with Mrs. Lundquist in the classroom! The students absolutely love this!”

Jennifer Miller, Morningside Elementary, Art, Sioux City, IA. Her nominator says, “She shows her students how to use different media in ways that they will utilize throughout their life, such as water color painting you can paint the paper with water before applying the paint to make different effects my daughter was so excited to come home and teach me this new skill. Also during COVID she had fun lessons online for my then kindergartener which kept her happy and engaged in that difficult time.”

Allison Rasmussen, Early Childhood Preschool, Brandon Elementary, Brandon, SD. Her nominator says, “From day 1, she has gone above and beyond for [my son]. “Even though it is not in their curriculum, I asked her if she could review some sight words with [my son], as he had developed a huge interest in reading over the summer. Not only did she immediately say yes, but as he progressed through the words, she reached out to other teachers for assistance in finding him more challenging words and made an extra effort to help him learn them. Secondly, she has decided to join our weekly ASL (American Sign Language) classes outside of school time. My son is Deaf and utilizes cochlear implants.”

Jessica Foley, 5^th Grade, Terry Redlin Elementary, Sioux Falls, SD. “Ms. Foley has shown these kids that school can be fun, and learning can be fun. And although it is still a struggle at times, the impact is seen. She spends her hard-earned money to buy the kids snacks so that they do not have to worry about an empty stomach while trying to learn. She pours everything she has into the classroom. They did a big social studies project where they made these big posters with drawings and text. Then she asked for parents to come in and see what their kids had done. Not only were the parents blown away, as their kids had never done anything like it, but the pride the kids had when showing their parents was immense. Show the kids you believe in them and watch what they can do.

Rachel Sturm, Jefferson High School Family & Consumer Sciences, Sioux Falls, SD. Her nominator says, “ Sturm is constantly investing her time and personal funds to make her classes engaging and hands-on by incorporating detailed projects (like her interior design haunted houses or fashion design Taylor Swift Eras tour fashion show) and a plethora of new technology to make learning real. Students in her classes repurpose used clothing into beautiful wearable creations, create tiny homes, learn about nutrition by teaching others about hidden sugars, participate in virtual escape rooms, and a myriad of engaging real-world lessons. She does this all with humor, humility, and kindness.”

“We believe in giving back to our community because our community has made us what we are today,” says McKeown. “What better way to do that than to recognize the teachers who lay the foundation of our future by shaping the young minds of our kids?”