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Addison Central School District Honors Teachers Of The Year

photo by provided Jennifer Billings

photo by provided Julie Schondube

Tuesday September 19, 2017

By Cookie Steponaitis

When talking with teachers who have been selected by their peers to be honored as Teachers of the Year, there is a common thread of inspiration, perspiration and exultation. In their lives they have received encouragement, have a steadfast belief in their abilities and supportive professionals. In return, they chose education as a way to give back and help young people find lifelong learning skills and a passion to pursue their dreams. When Addison Central District began its school year, they announced the 2017 Teachers of the Year were Jennifer Billings, a Middle School Math Teacher at Middlebury Union Middle School and Julie Schondube, a kindergarten teacher at Mary Hogan.
   MUMS math teacher Jennifer Billings credits two of her high school teachers, Mr. Cembalski (math) and Mr. Sola (art) for her passion to teach. Mr. Sola had a unique ability to control unruly high school students and awed Billings with his ability to draw the students into the subject. Mr. Cembalski watched Billings persevere with her own math struggles and told her she should teach the subject. While Billings had no plans of going into the mathematics field it was ironic his prediction would later come true.
   “Unfortunately, life threw me some curve balls. I withdrew from college in 1983, started a family and choose a career path,” shared Billings. “The idea of becoming a teacher was just a dream. Nineteen years later, when my oldest child graduated from high school and my youngest was entering kindergarten, I was hired to be a paraprofessional at Middlebury Union Middle School (MUMS). Being in the classrooms supporting students inspired me to pursue my long-forgotten dream. I wanted to teach but I struggled with confidence. So Jennifer Cox, Tiger Program Special Educator, encouraged me to go back to college and get my degree. I found taking CCV classes ignited a fire within me to learn! Finally, my teacher mentor Derek Bartlett encouraged me to believe in myself. I felt as if he was my personal coach as he enabled me to pursue teaching and gain self-confidence.”
   While Billings loves to inspire her students with new directions in learning, she feels her most important role is connecting with her students and teaching them to believe in themselves, take risks and learn mathematics through real world problems. Since she began her own schooling hating and fearing math, Billings knows it takes extra practice and focus to help students see themselves as successful in math and even more so to love it. The student who struggled with math grew up to teach it and love it. Billings stresses with all of her students the need to work with a subject or a problem from many different angles and persevere in solving it. “Last year, my eighth grade students would pick on me because I was constantly telling them that they need to know their multiplication math facts,” explained MUMS teacher Billings. “They would ask questions like, is it life or death? When I am an adult and I get a flat tire, is it because I didn’t know my math facts?” There was much laughter over their exaggeration, so I had t-shirts made up for them that said ‘For a sound body and mind - eat kale, drink milk and know your math facts!’
   Billings joined the MUMS staff in August 2007 as the FAME teacher and is currently in her twelfth year in the classroom. She was hired to create a math intervention program for students 1-2 grade levels below in mathematics and designed the program to target and close gaps in each student’s math understanding. “FAME is an acronym that stands for Foundational Applications for Math Excellence,” added Billings. “Furthermore, I invite some previous FAME students to come into my classroom every year to share their stories. I want my students to know that they can do whatever they put their minds to and seeing is believing.” When not teaching, Billings loves to be an advisor and worked as the Yearbook advisor as well as the co-coach of the MUMS Mathcounts team with Jan Broderson.
   Billings was both humbled and honored when selected for the award with the nominations coming from both her peers and students, Billings feels blessed and echoes the age long belief of treating the students like they were her own children and helping them to grow into unique individuals. Billings shares each day that attitude is everything and they can choose to have a positive attitude. Billings has fought breast cancer in her own life, the loss of three family members in three years and her husband’s life altering diagnosis. Attitude is not only a choice she teaches her students but one she employs in her life.
   It is fair to say that being an educator is in the DNA for ACD Teacher of the Year Julie Schondube. “My grandmother was a teacher,” shared Mary Hogan Kindergarten teacher Schondube. “I wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. When my younger sister started Kindergarten, I didn't think she was learning to read quickly enough so I took it upon myself to teach her to read.  I'm not sure if that was initiative or a bossy older sister thing!  I think my role as a Kindergarten teacher is to nurture each student's sense of curiosity and help them discover their strengths as a learner. I want them to realize that making mistakes is okay and that we all learn from our mistakes. I also think it's important to know what excites each child and that be a part of their learning at school.”
   Surprise is an element that also plays a part in Schondube’s life. Planning a trip to Hawaii with her then fiancé was exciting and the pair decided to get married while they were in the Aloha State. “We had a great deal of fun surprising everyone,” Schondube grinned. “On that trip, I jet skied next to dolphins and sea turtles and caught lots of Mahi Mahi on a fishing trip.” Known for bringing that wonder to her students, Schondube is in her 17th year of teaching at Mary Hogan School and has no plans to move up to the older grades. “I love my school, my Kindergarten Team and my colleagues, so many who have become friends,” explains Julie Schondube. “And the children, I have learned so much from the many different children who have been in my classes. I want to stay in Kindergarten!”
   While Schondube chuckles when asked to share special moments from Kindergarten, she is also very serious about the impact that she has on her young charges and vice versa. “Of course, there are the stories about the funny comments in the Kindergartner’s day, getting vomited on while teaching, kids coming out the bathroom naked and more,” exclaimed Schondube. “But every time one of my students walks across the stage for high school graduation, I get goosebumps and tear up.  Especially when I saw the boy who fell asleep every day under the table at Quiet Time and here he was graduating and getting ready to go to Vermont Technical College in the fall. Amazing! I really love seeing my former Kindergartners as young adults in the community and connecting with them again.”
   Calling the award ‘a wonderful surprise’ Schondube feels lucky to be a part of a great team of educators that supports each other every day and has fun learning together while keeping each other calm. “I am very honored that several of my colleagues nominated me and it feels great to know that people I respect and admire as educators see me as a person to honor.” For now, it is business as usual in Schondube’s room, with lots of wonder and learning and a teacher who sees each one as an individual that motivates her to be the best teacher she can be.
   The Valley Voice salutes Jennifer Billings and Julie Schondube for their award and most importantly for their never-ending commitment to educating the next generation of those who call the valley home.

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