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National award honors Haverhill educator’s work

A s a special education paraeducator in the life-skills program at Haverhill High School, Nancy Burke has always gone above and beyond for her students.

Now she has a national award to show for her years of dedication.

Burke received a national Bammy Award from the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences on Sept. 26. The judges noted her ability to engage her students and improve the school climate through her work.

Bammys are cross-discipline awards that recognize the contributions of educators across the entire field of public education. The first paraeducator to be honored with a Bammy, Burke was one of five special education finalists for the award.

Burke’s winning efforts included a project in which she, along with students and local volunteers, worked to build a garden that serves as an outdoor learning lab for the nearly 30 students in the school’s life-skills program.

Nearly two years ago, Burke asked permission to build raised garden beds in a vacant interior school courtyard.

With an $800 NEA/MTA grant,
Burke and her colleagues, assisted by
students in general education classes
and several local Eagle Scouts, built
the raised beds, benches and a ramp
for wheelchairs.

In addition to growing healthy foods for students, the garden serves as a learning lab, a therapeutic garden and a safe and relaxing space that allows Burke’s students fresh air and a way to connect with nature. The students learn to prepare the food they have grown in a kitchen in the school’s special education department.

Burke said the garden “is a
powerful learning tool for educating
the whole child.”
“School gardens create enthusiasm
for learning, encourage healthy eating
and foster team-building skills,” she
said.

She uses the garden to encourage her students to be creative and collaborate and to apply critical-thinking skills.

She learned that she had won at a “watch party” attended by family members, Haverhill High colleagues and other fellow Haverhill Education Association and MTA members, and representatives of the National Education Association. She was interviewed via Skype during the ceremony.

Friends, family members and colleagues of Nancy Burke, at left in the front row, gathered for a “watch party” at a hotel in Andover on the night that the Bammy Awards were announced via Skype. Alabama school food service worker Donna West, seated at right in front, was a finalist for a Bammy and flew to Massachusetts for the event.