Granton School Counselor Selected for Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Teacher Fellow

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021 -- 12:35 PM

The Granton School District’s Counselor was selected for the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Teacher Fellow.

I spoke with Shelly Schmitz and she described the fellowship in more detail.

Question:  “Can you explain how this process works?  Were you nominated for this or is this something you can apply for on your own?”

Shelly:  “You can’t apply yourself, you have to be nominated.  And it can be a nomination by a parent, a student or another educator.”

Question:  “Do you know who nominated you?”

Shelly:  “I do.  It was my former principal that I worked with at Granton.”

Question:  “How do you feel being selected for the fellowship?  It’s very exciting.”

Shelly:  “Yes, I was shocked to even see the nomination notification come through.  Julie nominated my last spring and then the application process opens up, I think, in September.  There were 101 selected across the State of Wisconsin and it’s a pretty big honor."

"I’m not the type of person that really likes to be in the limelight.  I like to just do my job and hopefully do my job well in the eyes of other people, but it’s nice to be recognized for doing so.”

Question:  “Granton School District, even though it’s smaller, has proven time and time again that it has good educators and good students.”

Shelly:  “Yes, we’ve had a good handful of teachers either be finalists or even recipients of Herb Kohl in the past.  And I think it does speak to what we do here at Granton.  We do have some good staff members.  And we do have some hard working students."

"Part of the application process is that we had to have three letters of recommendation.  And I was able to get one from a former student of mine.  And it was pretty neat that she was willing to do that for me.  We had a pretty close working relationship at school and I still stay in touch with her about college things and her personal life."

"So, that’s kind of what the basis of my application was is building those relationships with students and staff.  And, hopefully, the students find value in those relationships whether it’s with me or me helping to build those relationships between students and other staff members.”

Question:  “Being selected for this fellowship, you’ve been awarded $6,000.  Do you have any plans for these funds?”

Shelly:  “One of the questions I had to respond to as a part of my application was about if there were any unrealized goals that I had for my job. And one of the things that I really want to work on is getting our parents more involved in their student’s education.  Maybe doing some parent education classes."

"Also, I’m working with another student to create a clothing closet in Granton.  So, students could bring in gently used clothing items that they no longer wear or don’t fit them anymore and it can be passed on to other students at no cost to them.  They can come and do some shopping.  So, I would like to be able to use the money for that to help get that up and running."

"And then my other thing is mental health in our schools for our students.  And trying to really help educate our students on how important mental health is and take away that stigma of going to see the school counselor and really help our kids be the best they can be both inside and outside of school.”

Question:  “Anything else?”

Shelly:  “I really appreciate the nomination.  I’ve gotten lots of congratulation messages and I really, truly appreciate all of that.  We talk a lot about the feeling of family in Granton because we are so small and it really does feel like a family and I really feel blessed to be a part of that and really enjoy my work every single day.”

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