Angela Rico named NIE Teacher of the Year

Admitting she was nervous but also that she receives her newspaper every Thursday on time, the 2008 Newspaper In Education Teacher of the Year recipient, Angela Rico, expressed her appreciation to The Sun.

Rico, honored at the seventh annual banquet Monday, said it was quite an honor and wondered why she was singled out because there are so many amazing teachers in Yuma County. She confided that despite standing in front of a class every day, she was shaking when presented her $1,000 gift card and Freedom Communications Inc.'s "marvelous" apple trophy.

"I use newspapers in all aspects. Whatever subject or concept I'm working on, I find ways to use the newspaper to teach it," Rico said.

She also noted that newspapers help her students understand the concept of compassion. "Several times in the year students or family members would appear in the paper and it wasn't always great things. But whatever it was they always learned to lean on each other and that they had one another for support."

The NIE is a worldwide program that provides at no cost to schools newspapers to be used in course curriculum, said Karen Phillips, The Sun's NIE manager.

"What I find, there are so many teachers who tell me, 'I haven't got time to use the newspaper in the class,' but at 21,000 papers per week and over 400 teachers, they have learned how to use newspapers in their curriculum," Phillips said.

Many school principals require teachers to use NIE in the classroom and teachers are starting to use the newspaper as part of homework assignments, Phillips said.

"Our goal is to wipe out illiteracy."

Despite recent declines in newspaper subscriptions, there are just as many people reading the newspaper but many are now turning to the Internet to do so, Phillips said. Americans have frequently embraced new technology and while many now rely upon the Web to stay up to date some prefer the portability of a hard copy edition, she said.

"But the bottom line is, people continue to read and seek out new sources of information, whether it's on the Internet or the newspaper."

Teacher of the year runner-up was awarded to Alice Turk, fifth-grade teacher at the M.E. Otondo School. She was awarded a $50 gift card. Turk said she was surprised, elated and felt it was a great honor.

"Newspapers in the classroom help children become more well-rounded, help them understand their community and the world around them," Turk said.

Also presented with a Freedom apple award was Cherylholly Baron, principal of Harvest Prep Academy. Baron is departing Yuma for Dallas/Fort Worth to join her husband who now works there. Baron was the 2006 NIE winner.

"It's not just for history or social studies but we can align all our curriculum standards with the news, which gives it a real-life application."

Gary Southworth, the 2007 NIE winner, presented a video about the history of the NIE directed by himself and featuring his class, who also assisted in its production.

"I like to bring things currently going on and tie it in with whatever we're studying in the past," Southworth said. "You have to find that tie-in whether it's with history or science and then explain how it can affect the price of things you buy or whether you can afford to go on vacation."

Along with Freedom a number of partners help furnish Yuma schools with newspapers, including Arizona Public Service, Yuma Investment Group, Citizens Title and Trust, Bill Barenholtz, Pepsi-Cola Bottling of Yuma, Little Caesars Pizza, Albertsons, Mr. and Mrs. O'Connor and Mr. Robert Smith.

When Freedom Communications Inc. acquired The Sun eight years ago, just 122 teachers were taking NIE. Now there are over 400, Phillips said. One of the biggest challenges is for teachers to teach out of the same textbook year after year and yet purchasing new books can be costly, she said.

"The newspaper is fresh, exciting and up to date," Phillips said. "Every subject can be taught (out) of it. It just seems like a fun way to learn."

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TEACHER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS:
*Winner: Angela Rico, Rancho Viejo
*Runner-up: Alice Turk, M.E. Otondo
Other finalists:
*Margie Tanaka, Gary A. Knox
*Julianne Anderson, Harvest Prep Academy
*Abigail Retseck, Harvest Prep Academy
*Nancy Young, Amerischools
*Kristy McLaughlin, Amerischools
*Maria Mir, Amerischools

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William Roller can be reached at wroller@yumasun.com or 539-6858.