State of Montana Newsroom
OPI Announces Winners of 2021 Teresa Veltkamp Advocacy Award for Excellence in Indian Education for All
HELENA - The Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) Indian Education for All (IEFA) Unit is pleased to announce the 2021 Teresa Veltkamp Advocacy Award for Excellence in Indian Education for All Winners. The award, in its tenth year, is in honor of the legacy of Teresa Veltkamp who served as an Indian Education for All Implementation Specialist at the OPI until her untimely passing in 2011. Teresa was deeply committed to Indian Education and developed deep and meaningful relationships with many, many Montana tribal members during her tenure.
This year’s awardees join an impressive cadre of eighteen other winners from the past ten years. The 2021 recipients are:
- Chris Pavlovich, Livingston;
- Calli Rusche-Nicholson, Billings; and
- Miranda Murray, Great Falls.
Montana State Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen offered her congratulations to the winners. “Indian Education for All is engrained in Montana’s Constitution – and we are the only state to do so – but it is up to all of us to honor that commitment through quality instruction,” Arntzen said. “This year’s recipients of the Teresa Veltkamp Award are standing out in bringing the history and culture of Montana’s Tribes to life in our schools, and their example can help enliven instruction across the state. I congratulate Chris, Calli, and Miranda on their accomplishments, and thank them for their passion and dedication to ensuring Indian Education for All is not just a motto, but a reality. I know Teresa would be so proud.”
Superintendent Arntzen will also be welcoming attendees to the 2021 Indian Education for All Best Practices Virtual Conference, being held this Saturday and Sunday.
Additional information on each recipient follows below:
Chris Pavlovich is a fifth-grade teacher in Livingston, Montana with over thirteen years of experience. Ms. Pavlovich earns the honor of this award for her dedicated implementation of Indian Education for All in Livingston, which includes a most impactful IEFA experience created with the Building Bridges, Building Friendships student cultural exchange between Livingston and Pryor Elementary. This project is the legacy of her mentor, a 2016 Advocacy Award winner, fellow teacher, Robin Lovec. “The title of this project is the summation of the process. The relationships built are the bridge to everything else. I am grateful for the friendships and mentorships in IEFA which have impacted me greatly.”
Calli Rusche-Nicholson from Billings Public Schools is a Curriculum Specialist-Literacy Coach with sixteen years of experience in education. Ms. Rusche-Nicholson is being honored for her consistent and visionary leadership developing sustainable teacher leaders who can support other staff at their respective schools. Ms. Rusche-Nicholson remembers, “In 2006 I had the privilege of joining a team of amazing teachers as we developed not only our own Indian Education for All background, but also supported the implementation across our large district of twenty-two elementary schools. With Marcia Beaumont (a 2017 Advocacy Award winner), Cindy Welch, and current Billings Indian Education for All Director, Jennifer Smith, we began to attend staff meetings and share the Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians with elementary teachers. Our greatest asset is our teachers. Any opportunity to develop background knowledge of teachers is the best use of time.”
Miranda Murray, Great Falls Public School Indian Education for All Instructional Coach, is in her sixth year of teaching and third year instructional coaching. Miranda was awarded the Advocacy Award this year for her leadership and for her professional development efforts with fellow instructional coach, Jordann Lankford-Forster, which include providing webinars exploring the Essential Understandings and providing resources for implementation. “I have been able to see my work have a larger impact on students. I am continually reminded of the impact Indian Education for All has on our students’ senses of identity. IEFA affords our Native students to see themselves represented in the classroom in a meaningful and equitable way. Likewise, our non-Native students grow when they can better place themselves in relationship to the world around them. IEFA gives all of our student the opportunity to grow in their sense of identity and I am continually touched to see how students of all background respond to material that can help them grow their understanding not only of history and contemporary issues, but their sense of self.”
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Contact:
Chris Averill, Communications Director, 406-444-3449