Golden Apple Winners

Sarah teaches physical education, adaptive physical education, team sports, and traffic safety for grades 9-12 at Highland Park High School. She is a general education teacher who has stepped into the role that is usually expected of a special education teacher, serving as an inclusion and modification specialist. She not only promotes inclusion but fosters it in a way that helps students accept inclusion as the norm. It is rare for a teacher to be equally valued by all the demographics of a school in the way that Sarah is respected. Sarah has made a tangible, concrete, and lasting impact on the Highland Park High School community. She is the teacher who connects with all her students, motivates them to try and learn new things, generates confidence, inspires them to be better people, and supports them through that process.

Sarah learned she had been selected this year’s recipient at a surprise celebration on May 9th, where she was presented with a golden apple statuette and The Sara Sher Excellence in Teaching Prize – a $2,000 honorarium and a $500 Apple Store gift card. Sarah and semi-finalist Remington Clark were also honored at the May 14th Township High School District 113 Board meeting.