Hyrum, Utah Teacher ‘Honored’ With National Teaching Award!
Receives $5,000 award and story by award-winning journalist
WASHINGTON, DC - March 1, 2019
Jane Olsen, a veteran first-grade teacher at Canyon Elementary School in Hyrum, Utah, has been given the prestigious national Honored teaching award for March. As part of her honor, Olsen received a $5,000 cash award and a $1,000 DonorsChoose.org gift card, and was profiled by award-winning journalist and author Lizzie Johnson, of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Olsen was nominated for the Honored award by the mother of one of her students. In her nomination essay, Renae Blanke wrote,
My 6-year-old daughter Sera was struck by a truck while crossing the road on her bike. Sera has had a mountain of difficulties that she has faced and will continue to battle as she heals. Her personality changed overnight. Due to the accident she now has anxiety, anger, trust issues with others, migraines, back pain and a host of additional challenges. As the new school year approached she was terrified. Mrs. Olsen came to our house and spoke with Sera. They laughed, joked, and learned about each other. This moment was a defining shift in our daughter. I can not even begin to explain how Mrs Olsen has been a vital part of Sera’s healing and success.
Olsen has been teaching first grade for 24 years and ran a preschool out of her home while she raised her own six children. As a colleague describes, “Kids are good character readers. They can sense other people’s love. And they can sense it in Jane. It’s just a feeling. When you are with her, you are comfortable and welcome.” Thanks to Olsen’s careful nurturing, Sera is now thriving in first grade, and her mother reports that Olsen’s mentorship has done more for Sera’s healing process than all the other doctors and therapists combined. As Sera herself says, “I feel like she’s special. She feels like my friend.”
Read the full story of Jane Olsen and Sera Blanke at www.honored.org/honoree/jane-olsen
About Honored
Honored is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to keeping great teachers in the classroom and to inspiring a new generation of talent to pursue teaching. Each month, Honored shines a spotlight on a teacher who has changed the life of a single student. The Honoree receives a $5,000 cash award and a $1,000 DonorsChoose.org gift card, and Honored recruits a world-class writer to tell their story. Honorees are selected from K-12 teachers of all subjects at public, private, and charter schools across the country. Honored’s National Advisory Board includes luminaries such as the internationally best-selling author Michael Lewis, DonorsChoose.org founder Charles Best, Teach For America founder Wendy Kopp, and FEED co-founder Lauren Bush Lauren.
For more information about Honored, visit honored.org. To nominate a teacher, visit honored.org/nominate. For regular updates on Honored and our monthly Honorees, follow and like us on facebook.com/Honored.org, twitter.com/honored, and instagram.com/honored.
For immediate release
For more information, contact:
Katherine Boone
202-422-2277
About Honored
Honored is a nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping great teachers in the classroom and to inspiring a new generation of talent to pursue teaching. Each month, Honored shines a spotlight on a teacher who has changed the life of a single student. The Honoree receives a $5,000 cash award, and Honored partners with a world-class writer to tell their story. Honorees are selected from K-12 teachers of all subjects at public, private and charter schools across the country. Honored’s National Advisory Board includes luminaries such as the internationally best-selling author Michael Lewis, DonorsChoose.org founder Charles Best, Teach For America founder Wendy Kopp, and FEED cofounder Lauren Bush Lauren.
For more information about Honored, visit honored.org. For regular updates on Honored and our monthly Honorees, follow and like us on facebook.com/Honored.org, twitter.com/honored and instagram.com/honored.
Honored Press Contact
Katherine Boone[email protected]
(202) 422-2277