From The Achieve Foundation
For Amy Popp, Tuscan School Media Specialist, receiving a fellowship from the Achieve Foundation in March has special significance. She is one of five educators who were awarded Michele T. Riecke Fellowships totaling $5,073 to pursue professional development programs this summer.
Ms. Popp will attend the week-long American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. in late June. She is a second-generation South Orange-Maplewood School District educator, preceded by her mother, Bernice Popp, a beloved classroom teacher who taught the children of Michelle Traina Riecke, for whom the fellowship is named. Says Ms. Popp, “my mother deeply admired Shelley’s commitment to education and learning…. With the funds from this fellowship, I hope to honor Shelley by deepening my commitment to education and sharing the most current research, ideas and resources with my SOMSD colleagues and the students at Tuscan School.” Further extending the intersections and traditions of the fellowship program, Shelley Riecke’s two daughters now participate on its application review committee.
Riecke Fellows dedicate some portion of their summer break to professional development. The other 2022 Riecke Fellows are Caitlin Dennehy, a special education teacher at South Orange Middle School, who will study Mindfulness & Education at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY; CHS guidance counselor Karissa Handler, who will seek advanced skills in assisting students with the college application process at Columbia University’s Teachers College; Matthew Rice, who will prepare to train other teachers at CHS to support trans and non-binary students in a virtual course offered by the Transgender Training Institute; and Seth Boyden math intervention specialist Elana Ris, who will seek further proficiency in diagnosing and advancing student understanding and numeracy development through a virtual course in Add+VantageMR® (AVMR) from Math Recovery.
Including this year’s awards, the Riecke Fellowship has provided $92,778 to 73 educators from all ten SOMA schools since it was established in memory of Ms. Riecke, a former Board of Education President, in 2004. The purpose of the program is to support outstanding teaching by enabling educators to undertake continuing education in their fields in the summer and inspiring them to share the new knowledge they acquire with their District colleagues subsequently. For more information on the Riecke Fellowship, please visit the Achieve website.
The Achieve Foundation congratulates this year’s Riecke Fellows and commends them for finding the time and determination to submit applications during such a challenging school year. Many students and educators stand to benefit from the advancements they will bring back to the South Orange-Maplewood School community in the coming year and beyond.
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The Achieve Foundation of South Orange & Maplewood is a registered 501(c)3 organization that promotes high-quality education that prepares South Orange-Maplewood School District students for the future. We support our students, families and educators by addressing inequities, inspiring innovation and fostering community. Since 1999, Achieve has invested over $4 million for programs that support public education in our two towns. To learn more, please visit achievefoundation.org.
