QUINCY (WGEM) – St. Peter School teacher Evelyn Downey was awarded the WGEM Golden Apple Award.
Parents at the school said they knew from the moment they met Downey at “Meet the Teacher” night, their kids’ teacher was special.
“We knew right away this was going to be a good year with new ideas, exciting ideas and just a love for learning,” said parent Debby Rabe.
“All my girlfriends, Mark’s friends’ moms, were texting me saying ‘who is this, who is this, what is she like?’ I’m like we are golden, we are good, jackpot, she’s great, she’s amazing,” said parent Andrea Doellman.
Despite a challenging situation, Downey said she stepped into the third grade teacher role without hesitation.
“This assignment I have now, I took because the teacher was ill and needed the year off. I always told everyone I was RBW, retired but working, and I did miss the classroom,” Downey said.
In her more than five decades in education, Downey has taken on a multitude of roles from classroom teaching and administrative work to teaching future educators at the college level.
“I have a funny saying that I say which is ‘I’ve been in this rodeo before and I’ve rode the bull for more than eight seconds.’ So yes, every experience you have just adds to how you are going to teach,” Downey said.
“I think experience lends itself to making people feel comfortable, right? She came into this school year with experience and ideas that had worked in the past and some new ideas. Art was one of them. She wanted to bring art back into the classroom, what kid doesn’t love art?” Rabe said.
The kids say they do love the art Downey has brought to the classroom, from the current bunny craft to art they can wear.
“Since we did blast off to Mars, she got us shirts and we got to tie dye them,” said third grade student August Kendrick.
“She’s just amazing and she does a bunch of things that not every teacher would do and just makes the classroom move fun,” said third grader Caroline Brennan.
“She does all these things to make us happy and it’s not just like she’s teaching, she is also doing a lot of fun things while she’s teaching,” said third grade student Lyla Meyer.
Parents who nominated Downey for the Golden Apple Award said above all, she’s teaching their kids to be good people, even turning a canned food drive competition into a greater lesson.
“She brought in the perspective that there are kids around this town your own age, just like you, that don’t have means to have those things and so this is important for a reason,” Rabe said.
“I’ve never had a child come home from school everyday and say how much he likes school. He loves it, he loves her. He tries so hard because he loves this year,” Doellman said.
Downey said all the hard work comes right back and that’s why she’s stayed in education for 53 years and counting.
“It’s really need fulfilling for me. I get just as much back from these kids they give, they give me so much… Sure you’re tired at the end of the day or maybe you are frustrated of something that they are not doing that you don’t want, but at the end of the day, you want the best for them and love them,” Downey said.
Downey said she plans to teach next school year at St. Peter.
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