117. The 2022 EL Education Educator Awardees, Annie Smith and Tom Rochowicz

EL Education was born out of a collaboration between The Harvard Graduate School of Education and Outward Bound USA. What started as a concept has grown into a movement. Its mission is to create classrooms where teachers can fulfill their highest aspirations and students achieve more than they think possible, becoming active contributors to building a better world. In its core DNA, EL Education is all about this one question: What if school served a higher purpose? Over the last ten years EL Education has received hundreds of nominations for its EL Education Educator Awards. I am thrilled to have as my guests today the two winners of the 2022 EL Education, Educator Award: Annie Smith and Tom Rochowicz. Annie Smith was a kindergarten teacher at Polaris Charter School in Chicago, Illinois and the recipient of the 2022 Klingenstein Teacher Award. She is now the primary instructional coach at Polaris. In 2022 Tom Rochowicz was the Principal at WHEELS, a New York City Outward Bound School, the recipient of the 2022 Silverberg Leadership Award and the 2014 Teach For America National Teaching Award. Tom is now the NYC Public Schools - Consortium, Internationals, and Outward Bound District Deputy Superintendent. Our editor is the talented Evan Kurohara. Theme music is provided by the master pianist, Michael Sloan. You can find Michael's music on Spotify, Apple and all the major music platforms.