HARRISON —
Three Harrison public school teachers were among a group of educators honored at the ninth annual September 11th Teacher Awards event in New York.
Each year the 9/11 Tribute Center “honors teachers who create exemplary educational projects that help students understand the impact of 9/11.”
The event is held on Feb. 26 on the anniversary of the first World Trade Center attack to reinforce the importance of helping students understand the ongoing impact of both the 1993 and 2001 incidents.
“These teachers have engaged students in creating unique projects that focus on both the historical facts of 9/11 and the generosity of the humanitarian response, thereby giving young people a positive way of approaching the stories of this terrible day,” according to a statement issued by the 9/11 Tribute Center.
“Few teachers throughout the country are supported in their efforts to teach about 9/11. The 9/11 Tribute Center has made it a priority to collect, reward and share the creativity and commitment of teachers that have taken the challenge and made tremendous accomplishments in their school.”
Nine teachers and schools from New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Iowa and Seattle were honored, including Kimberly Madalena, Amy Morillo and Sharon Catrambone, all eighth-grade instructors at Washington Middle School, received certificates of merit and monetary gifts for their schools.
Madalena, Morillo and Catrambone were credited with organizing a program in which “students researched and wrote about responders and others that helped in the 9/11 recovery. They created a Hallway of Heroes, followed by inviting their heroes to their school, creating an all-day, school-wide presentation.”
Also honored was Bayonne High School teacher Stefanie Woods under whose guidance “students created poems using words from 50 newspaper headlines, having to make connections between personal experiences on 9/11 to headlines in the press.”
The awards were underwritten by contributions from seven 9/11 family foundations: The Brooke Jackman Foundation, The Christopher Slattery 9/11 Memorial Foundation, The Greg Richards, Larry Polatsch, Scott Weingard (GLS) Memorial Fund, The Family of Firefighter Michael D. Mullan, The Terence D. Gazzani 9/11 Scholarship Fund, The Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund and The Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust.
The 9/11 Tribute Center is a visitor center opened in 2006 by the September 11th Families Association, a non-profit corporation, and is designed as a place where visitors to the WTC can connect with people from the 9/11 community: family members of lost loved ones, survivors, first responders and people who live and work in Lower Manhattan.
