Above, from left: Lewis Award finalists Jennifer Sullivan, Christine Brennan and Colleen Whilldin.
Catholic Schools Week began Jan. 26, and the committee of the Monsignor Gerald L. Lewis Award recently shared news to celebrate.
The committee announced the three finalists for the 2024-2025 Excellence in Teaching Award. The finalists are Christine Brennan, of Our Lady of Lourdes School in Raleigh, Jennifer Sullivan, of St. Thomas More School in Chapel Hill, and Colleen Whilldin of St. Egbert School in Morehead City.
The educators were selected from nominations submitted in the fall of 2024. Following classroom observations, a recipient will be chosen and honored in the spring of 2025.
Brennan is known to facilitate a thriving learning environment in her 3rd grade classroom “by infusing game show style digital resources in students' collaborative group work, through which students provide formative feedback to enhance instructional pacing and methodologies to optimize summative outcomes,” the committee shared.
Sullivan teaches 4th graders language arts and social studies. According to the committee, she “employs technology to gather individual student data, and empowers students to identify ways and means for personal skill development. Initiating skill development requires students to practice writing and speaking across curricula.”
A physical education teacher, Whilldin teaches students in grades Pre-K through 5. She’s also a religion educator for kindergarteners and third graders. She “extends teaching and learning beyond traditional classrooms by initiating opportunities for students to apply the ‘Gradual Release of Responsibility’ model for community building,” the committee shared.
The Lewis Award was initiated in 1992 to honor teachers in grades K – 12 in Diocese of Raleigh Catholic Schools. It’s named for Monsignor Lewis, who served the diocese from his priestly ordination in 1961 until his death Dec. 16, 2024. For Monsignor Lewis, it was a tradition each year to travel to the school of the recipient for a special Mass. He was well known for the homilies he shared, which were often interactive and engaged students, families and educators.