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| Galesburg Chamber Names Teacher of Year |
A special education teacher at Galesburg High School says she thought she was going to a monthly breakfast hosted by the Galesburg-Area Chamber of Commerce to talk about a program she helped start that gives students there dresses for school formals. And while that would normally be important enough, even she was surprised at why she was really there.
Turns out, the Chamber named Jackie Axtell its annual "Teacher of the Year" Wednesday; the chamber says the "Fairy Godmothers Fashions" program is one of those reasons she was nominated, along with, what the chamber calls Axtell's ability to go above and beyond the call of duty and always having a positive attitude.
Axtell tells WGIL beyond being shocked at winning, she's really proud of the dress program, and hopes the Chamber members got that message. "We fitted about ten girls for (the annual dance) 'Swirl' on Valentine's Day," Axtell said. "(Wednesday) I'll go to a meeting and find out how many girls are interested in doing this for prom. Coming (to the 'Galesburg on the Go' breakfast) to meet with business owners, I was thinking 'Uh oh. What are we doing? I wondered how many in the audience sold formals. I was a little nervous."
Axtell says hopefully some of those Chambers will be willing to donate to the program, or at least notice that perhaps the parents of underprivileged students will now be able to buy other formal accessories now that they won't have to pay for a dress.
Axtell has been a special education teacher at Galesburg High School for ten years.
(Jackie Axtell speaks Wednesday morning at the Kensington after accepting her "Teacher of the Year" award.)
(WGIL News Story and Photos by Will Stevenson.) |
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| 03 17 09 by Newsroom |
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