Season 7, Episode 2 - June 21, 2023
This team of outstanding teachers traveled the state during the 2022-23 school year sharing ideas and information with educators. While visiting Emporia State University, the team shared stories and strategies that they find successful in the classroom.
Regional Finalists:
JESSICA GAZZANO | ERICA HUGGARD | MALLORY KEEFE | PAMELA MUNOZ | KENDAL NORBERG | JAIMIE SWINDLER | CARLY TORRES
Brian Skinner is an interrelated special education teacher, grades 9-12, for Newton Schools USD 373, as an employee of the Harvey County Special Education Cooperative, in Newton, Kansas. He has been teaching since Aug. 2013 and currently serves as Newton High School’s special education department chair.
Skinner has also served as the Individualized Education Plan case manager for Project SEARCH, a one-year program that focuses exclusively on vocational skills within the community for students with significant disabilities that have completed their high school academic program.
Outside of the special education department, Skinner has several other teaching experiences. He was a general education English instructor for Newton’s virtual program from 2016 through 2020 and served as an adjunct history professor at Bethel College in 2017.
Within USD 373, Skinner is a leader. He started and expanded co-teaching in Newton High School’s English department in 2017, has been Newton’s scholars’ bowl coach since 2015, and has served as a concessions manager since 2014. Skinner is also on his building leadership team, Newton’s site council, and serves as chair of Newton’s freshmen success team. Skinner says, “Working with students across such a wide spectrum helps him to best understand all students and have a larger impact in helping build a positive school culture.”
Skinner holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Bethel College and a Master of Teaching and Learning from Friends University. He is also an active member at the local, regional, and state levels of the National Education Association.
Jessica Gazzano is the art teacher for grades 6 through 8 at Woodland Spring Middle School, in Olathe, Kansas. She has 14 years of teaching experience with 9 of those years in the Spring Hill school district. Gazzano is also active on the strategic plan and building leadership team, is head cheerleading coach, and sponsors the school’s publications club.
Erica Huggard is in her sixteenth year of teaching at Emporia High School which is located in Emporia, Kansas. Currently, she teaches anatomy and physiology and biology. Huggard received her Bachelor of Science in Biology and Health Education from Emporia State University. She later received her Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction from Kansas State University.
Mallory Keefe is the head teacher of the three-year-old preschool program at Cheney Elementary School (USD 268) in Cheney, Kansas. Keefe started the program in August 2019. Keefe received her Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from Wichita State University in 2015 and completed her Master of Science in Early Childhood from Emporia State University in 2020.
Pamela Munoz is a kindergarten teacher at McCarter Elementary in Topeka Public Schools Unified School District 501. She graduated from Emporia State University in 2006 earning a Bachelor’s of Science in Elementary Education with endorsements in English as a Second Language and Early Childhood. Her 16 years of teaching experience include teaching English as a Second Language, 5th grade and Kindergarten.
Kendal Norberg teaches fourth grade at Broadmoor Elementary School in Louisburg, Kansas; Unified School District 416. She earned her bachelor’s degree in education from Kansas State University. She also earned a master’s degree in special education from Baker University in 2019. Norberg has taught in Louisburg for the past twelve years in different capacities.
Jaimie Swindler is the teacher for 18-21 special education services at USD 290, Ottawa, KS and this fall began dually serving as the district Transition Specialist. Swindler provides support for students primarily with intellectual and developmental disabilities to successfully transition from school to the community, with the goal of maximizing independence and being competitively employed.
Carly Torres teaches fifth grade at Wiley Elementary School, Hutchinson Unified School District 308, in Hutchinson, Kansas. Torres has taught fifth grade for the past 5 years. Before teaching at USD 308, she taught one year at a bilingual school in Gracias, Lempira, Honduras. There she taught kindergarten.