Crystal Apple winners announced
By Hub City Times staff
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MACCI) has announced its Crystal Apple Award winners for 2019. The announcements were made in the teachers’ classrooms on March 5.
Among this year’s winners is the first two-time Crystal Apple Award recipient—Spanish instructor Deb Kennedy of Columbus Catholic High School in Marshfield.
“I told the students that I owed them a debt of gratitude, because I couldn’t be a Crystal Apple teacher, if they weren’t my Crystal Apple students,” Kennedy said. “I’ve worked with so many students in my 23 years here, from first grade up through college levels at the UW. All of the different levels I teach, every child or every adult that crosses my classroom, they change me. I adapt what I do to reach each person and their abilities. I meet them where they are at, and we go forward together.”
Kennedy has taught for 40 years in Virginia, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. She is a native of Grand Rapids, MI.
Also named as a 2019 Crystal Apple Award winner was Noah Werner of Greenwood High School.
“When I first got into teaching, I wanted to get into the athletic side of things, but I found a home in tech ed and I haven’t really wanted to leave there,” Werner said. “My mom’s a teacher so that’s been a big influence on what I have done. I’ve met a lot of good teachers in my life. It’s become a passion of mine in the last four to five years.”
Werner is a technology education instructor for grades seven through 12. He taught for 1.5 years in Granton before joining the Greenwood staff 3.5 years ago. He is an Edgar native and a graduate of UW-Stout.
Also being recognized as 2019 Crystal Apple award winners are Kara Lasiewicz, Auburndale Middle and High School, and Jonathan Hitchcock, Grant Elementary, Marshfield.
They’re among two dozen Teachers of Distinction who will now be recognized at a banquet May 1 at Hotel Marshfield.
The other Teachers of Distinction for 2019 include Marshfield teachers Nancy Baierl of Columbus Catholic and OLP, Timothy Bergelin and Dean McFarlane of Marshfield High School, Madalyn Field from Marshfield Middle School, Janeen Herkert from Lincoln Elementary, Cari Martin from Washington Elementary, Christine Zanotelli of Madison Elementary, Shelisa Schmidt of Grant Elementary, Kris Phillips of Nasonville Elementary, and Brenda Kuhnau from Immanuel Lutheran.
Other area Teachers of Distinction include: Kayleigh Vantassel of Granton, Michelle Abel of Pittsville Elementary, Kristie Bangart of St. Joseph’s in Stratford, Carey Petri of Greenwood Elementary, Abbi Roehrborn and Holly Strey of Spencer, Todd Steward of Pittsville High School, Steve Voss of Auburndale Elementary and Mike Wisniewski of Trinity Lutheran.