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Milken Family Foundation Surprises Pierre Teacher with $25,000 Milken Educator Award
Governor Daugaard joined State Secretary of Education Schopp to present Shana Davis with South Dakota’s 2013 “Oscar of Teaching”
November 18, 2013
An unsuspecting Shana Davis, an English and Language Arts teacher at T.F. Riggs High School in Pierre, South Dakota was caught by complete surprise when Governor Dennis Daugaard presented her with an unrestricted $25,000 Milken Educator Award during a school-wide assembly. The prestigious honor, presented in front of cheering students, colleagues and a host of special guests, will be the only one awarded to a South Dakota teacher in 2013. Across the nation, up to 40 of America’s most outstanding secondary school educators will be recognized this year.
Lending their congratulations to Shana Davis were Dr. Melody Schopp, State Secretary of Education, Dr. Jane Foley, senior vice president, Milken Educator Awards and several Board of Education members.
“Our public education system is at the heart of America’s promise and essential to safeguarding the American dream for future generations,” said Lowell Milken, chairman and co-founder of the Milken Family Foundation. “With research confirming that effective teachers represent the single most important school-related factor in raising student achievement, it is important to honor them, learn from them, and inspire more capable people to enter the profession. As the program’s motto extols, the future belongs to the educated.”
About the Award Recipient
The Helping young people turn their lives around is Shana Davis’ mission at Riggs Academy, an alternative-education site at T.F. Riggs High School. Thanks to the former Army reservist and Iraq war veteran’s caring, nonjudgmental but firm guidance, even those who’ve come out of the corrections system show up in class every day, earn diplomas and go on to college or enter the workforce. Davis, an English teacher who has taught for 12 years, jumped at the chance five years ago to help create and lead the academy program. From an at-risk background herself, she develops relationships with young people, empowering them to believe in themselves. She tries various teaching methods, sets frequent goals to keep students on track and, when called for, meets with probation officers monthly. For those who show initiative, Davis will do whatever it takes.
Quite the role model, Davis received a leadership medal for service in Iraq and proudly displays her Army unit flag in the classroom. She is studying for a master’s degree while working as late as 10 p.m., always seeking ways to improve the system and help students. At Riggs, she also runs the after-school academy and is the high school’s summer-school director.
Before the academy opened, students who failed a class had no recourse during the school year to recover lost credits. Now an average of 50 credits, or 100 classes, are recovered each school year. Last year Davis helped serve 125 students, and 55.5 credits, or 111 classes, were recovered.
Davis makes every effort to communicate with and involve parents, even in cases where home life might not be ideal. Among colleagues, she is the go-to person for curricular and academic questions on at-risk learners. She is a member of the Community/Law Enforcement/School Team investigating alternatives to detention, and leads the Riggs Student/Teacher Assistance Team, which seeks solutions to challenges that students face. Davis works with the U.S. Department of Labor, providing test cases of students who combine work and school. She is the district curriculum leader for online learning and is arranging training for teachers in the online learning program Edgenuity. She has presented at the Technology and Innovation in Education conference and brims with ideas to share with staff after attending such conferences. It’s no surprise that Shana Davis is considered “a one-in-a-million teacher.”
Details
The Milken Educator Awards, conceived by Lowell Milken to attract, retain and motivate outstanding talent to the teaching profession, is the nation’s preeminent teacher recognition program, dubbed the “Oscars of Teaching” by Teacher Magazine. Since 1987, the Milken Family Foundation, co-founded by Michael and Lowell Milken, has devoted more than $136 million in funding to the Milken Educator Awards, including over $64 million in individual Awards to nearly 2,600 recipients plus powerful professional development opportunities and networking with leading education stakeholders.
South Dakota Milken Educators
South Dakota joined the Milken Educator Awards program in 2002
$375,000 cash awards presented to 14 South Dakota Milken Educator Award recipients
For More Information
Milken Educator Awards Website: www.MilkenEducatorAwards.org
South Dakota Department of Education Website: http://doe.sd.gov/
South Dakota Milken Educator Awards website: https://doe.sd.gov/oatq/milken.aspx
Pierre School District Website: http://pierre.k12.sd.us/
Milken Family Foundation Website: www.mff.org
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For more information, visit our Media Kit page.
Education reform leader Lowell Milken created the Milken Educator Awards to recognize exemplary teachers and established the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) to generate more talented teachers, www.niet.org. NIET operates TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement and the Best Practices Center. Lowell Milken recently provided the founding gift for the UCLA School of Law’s Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy. For more information about Lowell visit www.lowellmilken.com.