Dear St. Mary’s Families,
The Golden Apple Award was established by the Joplin Chamber of Commerce to recognize excellence in teaching and the positive influences a teacher has in a child’s life. As principal of St. Mary’s and as the winner of the 2016 Golden Apple Award, I can assure you that the compassionate, talented, and dedicated teachers we have at St. Mary’s rival ANY school in the area. It is an honor to work alongside teachers who use their gifts and talents to educate and instill not only the joy of learning in each of our students, but the love of Christ as well.
I ask each St. Mary’s family to consider nominating one of our amazing teachers this year. Since the challenges of Covid-19 arrived in March of 2019, families have become more aware of the importance of educators, what a challenging AND rewarding profession teaching is, and how hard teachers work each day for the benefit of their students. St. Mary’s teachers go above and beyond to educate, love, and nurture your child regardless of current challenges, it is what St. Mary’s teachers have ALWAYS done and will continue to do. Please consider taking a few moments to say “thank you” with a nomination.
Golden Apple nominations can be made for any of our teachers in grades Kindergarten – 5th grade, homeroom teachers and specials teachers alike. Letter of nominations do not have to be long or detailed, they act as the qualifier for nomination and can be of any length. As past winners of the Golden Apple Award, Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Lone are not eligible to win the award again.
Golden Apple nominations may be mailed in or submitted digitally. More information about the Golden Apple and the Nomination Form can be found at www.joplincc.com/goldenapple . A Golden Apple pamphlet will be sent home this coming Friday in your family’s Communicator Envelope as well, but I wanted to send general information about the award and nominating process to you today. The deadline to nominate a teacher is 5:00 p.m. on Monday, February 1st. If you have any questions, please contact Stephanie McGrew at the Joplin Chamber, 624-4150.
God bless and take care,
Joanne Lown