By Emma Dalton, staff writer
Indian Trail’s Allison Walton, an English teacher, has received KUSD’s Secondary Teacher of the Year award.
In order for a teacher to win this award, they must fit specific criteria. They must be working in the district for five years and letters of recommendation covering subjects such as relationships, innovations, instruction, communication, and professionalism must be sent in.
“Mrs. Walton deserved to be nominated because she changes lives… and that’s all I can ask for in a teacher,” said senior Lexi Caruso, one of the students who wrote a letter recommending Walton.
Walton sparks life in her students by adding passion to all of her lessons.
“Not many teachers teach as passionately as her, and she actually makes it fun to learn,” said Anmol Patel, an Indian Trail Junior. “There is never a time in her classroom that we are not doing something productive, in fact there is almost never enough time to get everything done.”
This enthusiasm has also been noticed by Walton’s fellow administrators.
“I would describe Mrs. Walton as passionate and hard working… She is someone who enjoys being in a classroom and is always striving to improve her craft,” said Principal Maria Kotz.
Walton is not only involved in the classroom, but also puts tremendous work into other projects within the school.
For several years, she was the Junior class advisor. In doing so, she planned six proms, and launched Mr. IT. As of three years ago, she became involved with the Common Core cadre, which helps to implement the new national standards at Indian Trail. Last year, Walton began teaching AP Language classes, and according to Kotz, Walton’s classes scored excellent on the AP exams. Walton has also served on the district’s curriculum writing team, and is now an instructional leader. In the upcoming summer, Walton will be a part of the English assessment team.
“It seems like I am always involved in something,” said Walton, “I am never bored.”
Although many staff and students put much effort into nominating Mrs. Walton, the nomination and the award were kept a surprise.
“When I first saw people in the hallway with the cake and flowers, I thought they were there for some sort of belated birthday celebration,” explained Walton. “When Mrs. Kotz announced that I had been named KUSD’s Secondary Teacher of the Year, I said, ‘Wow!’ And then I think I kept repeating ‘Wow! Just wow.’ I was very surprised, but also very grateful and honored.”
After letting the surprise sink in, Walton expressed her gratitude.
“It helped me to realize just how important recognition is, and it’s a great reminder that, even on the worst days, what I do matters. Education matters. Teachers matter,” said Walton
“Indian Trail has some amazingly talented and dedicated teachers, and they work extremely hard to improve the lives of the students in this building every day. As a result, we do not only have a building with a Teacher of the Year. We also have a winning football team. We have an award winning newspaper. We have a graduating class who will walk out of here with hun- dreds of thousands of dollars in scholarship money. We have all sorts of athletes heading to state competitions. We have a drama program that is enviable and music teachers who direct choirs and bands and orchestras with such passion that their students’ performances move their audiences to tears. None of these things would be possible without the collective efforts of so many people in this building,” she explained.
“[The whole experience] has been an important reminder that we have a lot to celebrate in this building, and if we devote our energy to taking joy in each other’s successes and triumphs and in building each other up, we will all come out the better for it.”
Walton’s efforts and passion in the classroom is something that will stay with her students for life. Her personable attitude and open ears were there for hundreds of students, something that will not be forgotten.
“For me, every day in Mrs. Walton’s class was a new life lesson,” said Caruso. “Her wisdom will always be remembered and cherished.”
Other teachers at Indian Trail who have received KUSD’s Secondary teacher of the year award include Principal Maria Kotz and Band Director Ken Wiele.
Other awarded staff include Page Kessler, Karen Wiele, and Dori Perri who have all won Distinguished Service awards.
“While teachers have not been recognized, we have an incredible staff and we look forward to nominating teachers every year,” said Kotz. “There are many teachers who are equally de- serving of such an award.”