Come meet authors! From 10-3! Session C "We are the Stories" session moved from Troy to Schenectady Room
2023 NYSEC Award Winners
New York State English Council Fellow
Christine Zandstra, Wappingers Central School District
2023 NYSEC Fellow Award Winner
Each year, the Executive Board of the New York State English Council recognizes a member of the council for giving unconditionally to the membership and the students of New York State.
New York State English Council proudly presents the 2023 Fellow Award Winner:
Christine Zandstra
The Executive Board of the New York State English Council has chosen Christine Zandstra for the 2023 Fellow Award. We honor Christine for her dedication to education and for her outstanding service to the Council.
Christine has always been the type of educator that puts her students first. She has taught remedial courses at Dutchess Community College, and for the last 20 years has taught both middle and high school level classes for the Wappingers Central School District. Her desire to constantly improve her practice through professional development and personal learning enables her to always provide her students with an engaging classroom environment. She is passionate about growing strong readers, and works tirelessly to find texts that will connect with her students.
She also makes it a priority to grow her own skills, and as a result she has been a Nationally Board Certified Teacher since 2011. Christine shares what she has learned with her colleagues by facilitating workshops through the Hudson Valley Writing Project, Mid-Hudson Teachers Center, and presenting at local, state, and national conferences. In addition, she works to support the next generation of English educators by serving as an adjunct at SUNY New Paltz.
Christine served on the NYSEC Executive Board for a decade in several capacities: NYSCEA Liaison, Treasurer, Awards Coordinator, and most notably as the President in 2015. The impact of her work with the organization both in front and behind the scenes is still felt today.
Christine is the best kind of leader - the kind who doesn’t want to be one, the kind who doesn’t realize her magical powers, the kind who prefers to see others shine, the kind who leads from the front and guides from behind, who wants to get her hands dirty, who never feigns ignorance or innocence in the face of a task or challenge, who figures things out on her own and gets things done, who never wants to stop learning or reading or growing or attending to her personal devotion to professional development. We on the NYSEC Board thank Christine for her service to the Board and to educators throughout the State.
Library/Media Specialist of Excellence Awards
College
Sarah Rhodes
University at Oneonta, State University of New York
Secondary
Mary Knopp
South Pleasant Central School District
Michele Sherman
Monroe-Woodbury Central School District
Educators of Excellence
College
Thor Gibbins
Sarah Rhodes
University at Oneonta, State University of New York
Secondary
Melinda Crowley
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake School District
Tina DeFabio
Ballston Spa Central School District
Michele Ehlerman-Lee
Uniondale Union Free School District
Lori Indemaio
Bayside Central School District
Vasken Kazandijan
South Huntington Central School District
Mary Knopp
South Pleasant Central School District
Emily LaGigilia
Northport Central School District
Patrici Ninivaggi
Plainview- Old Bethpage Central School District
Joseph Pipolo
South Huntington Central School District
Kristine Santarpia
Uniondale Union Free School District
Kristopher Scuccimarra
Carmel Central School District
Michelle Sherman
Monroe-Woodbury Central School District
Dr. Sheeba Varkey
Uniondale Union Free School District
Terri Weiss
Valley Central School District
Collaborators of Excellence
College
Catherine Eisele and Jean Kerr, SUNY Polytechnic Institute Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering
Secondary
Julie Cox, Rebecca Goldfischer, Zoe McLaughlin, Veronica Miller, Roni Mitchell, Jennifer Plourde,
Kevin Wolpert, and Shane Zanetti, Saratoga Spring City School District
Amber DeSimony, Kristin Richard, Leah Werther, Niskayuna Central School District
Chelsea Dyer, Emily Mack-Hass, and Shannon Spollen, East Greenbush Central School District, Niskayuna Central School District, and Voorheesville Central School District
Early Career Scholarship Awards
Kristina Bardes
Wappingers Central School District
Maja DeGaray
Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District
Creative Writing Awards
Short Fiction
Chiho Kakita
Shenendehowa High School East, Grade 12
"We Were Pretenders”
Ava Maffei
North Shore High School, Grade 9
“Fade”
Poetry
Freya Griffen
Shenendehowa High School East, Grade 12
“Untitled”
Christianna Percy
George W. Hewlett High School, Grade 12
“Bootcamp"
Ayesha Taj
George W. Hewlett High School, Grade 11
“New York Elegy”
English Record Article of the Year
“The Learner-Centered Curriculum and the Modern Crisis of Hope” by Jennifer Lockhart McHugh, University at Albany, State University of New York
Ruth Everett Award
Stacy Locurto-Keener, Uniondale Union Free Central School District