Cape teachers vie for district's best

Cape Henlopen District Teacher of the Year will be chosen Monday, April 30, from a field of nine experienced educators, and the winner will represent Cape Henlopen School District at the state Teacher of the Year celebration in September.

This year's candidates are:

Barb Evans – H.O. Brittingham Elementary

Evans became a teacher in 2007 following a lifelong dream. Growing up, she said, she would spend hours in her playroom playing school. After the birth of her first child, she chased that dream, earning her degree in elementary education and accepting her first teaching position at H.O. Brittingham Elementary School as a special education teacher. Over the next 11 years, Evans' experience expanded to include co-teaching, Intensive Learning Center, and inclusion. In 2015, she began teaching advanced learners, accepting a teaching position for Cape's Accelerated Learning Program. Evans said her passion is creating an environment where students yearn for learning and are inspired daily.

Alex Louvis – Beacon Middle School

Louvis pursued psychology as an undergraduate, and became interested in working with special needs children. At 25, he earned a master's degree in special education, specializing in emotional disturbance. For five years, his work was primarily crisis-intervention counseling, serving elementary and middle school-aged emotionally disturbed students in Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas. Louvis discovered the field of art therapy, earning a second master's degree, and becoming credentialed as a registered art therapist. For the next eight years, he worked as an art therapy teacher in a high school for emotionally disturbed students in suburban Northern Virginia.

After moving to Delaware, he began teaching middle school art education. Louvis is a registered art therapist, and now provides art experiences tailored for special needs students during summer sessions.

Amy Soni – Mariner Middle School

Soni's journey as a teacher began at the age of 7 when her bedroom became a classroom and the chalkboard her parents bought her became a tool for instruction. The student? Her 2-year old brother who used a television tray as a desk. She spent hours teaching him letters, basic reading skills, numbers and simple math without the assistance of expensive curriculum or technology. While her goal was not necessarily to prepare him for kindergarten, she believes those early years foreshadowed her undeniable passion for teaching. In high school, Soni volunteered at a local elementary helping special needs children in the Special Olympics. Soni graduated from University of Delaware with a degree in elementary and special education, giving her the opportunity to help students realize their potential, dream for themselves, and have confidence to pursue those aspirations.

Kala Haller – Shields Elementary

Haller said she believed from a very young age that teaching was the profession she would pursue. Her love for teaching began when her younger sister was born, and she made it her mission to prepare her for school. Haller attended Cape schools from elementary to high school, after which she earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education at the University of Delaware. After graduating in 2003, she began substitute teaching in Cape schools, and she was hired as a para-educator in December 2003. In the summer of 2004, she was hired as a first-grade teacher at Shields Elementary. In 2007, she went back to school for her master's degree. Haller said she enjoys teaching first grade because the inquiring minds of 6- and 7-year-olds have a strong desire to learn. She said she enjoys teaching the early stages of both reading and writing, and watching the remarkable progress that her students make.

Coleen Brittingham – Sussex Consortium

When Brittingham decided she wanted to be a teacher, she said, a career involving individuals with autism or severe intellectual disabilities was not what she had in mind. She dreamed of teaching French to high school students, taking them on trips abroad to speak and study. Her student teaching and undergraduate degree were in French education; she then studied abroad. But her professional aspirations took a turn when she started working for Cape Henlopen School District in 2007. She took a para-educator job to get her foot in the door for a foreign language position. However, after a year, she said, she fell in love with all the potential autistic students show. She said she saw from these students what was really, truly important in this existence. And she never looked back.

Jackie Wager – Milton Elementary

Wager has a passion for teaching that started as a young woman. As a teenager, she taught ice skating, and she helped out with summer theater camps for youngsters. Wager graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in international relations; she first worked on Capitol Hill and later for a law firm. She soon realized that law was not her passion, and she moved to Costa Rica where she taught English to children and adults. When she returned home, she taught in The Bronx as a New York City Teaching Fellow, and then worked 10 years as a third-grade dual-language teacher in New Rochelle, N.Y. Wager relocated to Milton to live closer to family and the beach. She is now an English language teacher for the Cape Henlopen School District.

Nichole O'Brien – Love Creek Elementary

O'Brien is a 2001 graduate of The Pennsylvania State University. It was during her early education courses at Penn State that she found her passion for teaching early childhood education. She graduated with a dual major in elementary and early childhood education. O'Brien also earned a minor in human development and family studies. After graduation, O'Brien got a second-grade teaching position at Marion T. Academy in Wilmington. She then taught in Woodbridge School District before taking a kindergarten teaching job at Milton Elementary School. Since working for the Cape Henlopen School District, she has earned a master's degree in applied educational technology and a master's in reading, both from Wilmington University. She also completed coursework to obtain a principal certification.

Robert Harrod – Cape Henlopen High School

Harrod is in his 11th year teaching at Cape Henlopen High School. A native of Louisiana, Harrod graduated with a teaching degree from Wilmington College in 2006 and started as a substitute at Cape Henlopen High School. He said knew immediately that high school was for him, so he worked as a long-term sub until he was hired full time by Cape in the fall of 2008. He has taught ninth-grade biology since he was hired, and he has been reinvigorated by teaching the Science and Global Issues biology curriculum that Cape's biology department piloted for the state. Harrod works with the Advancement Via Individual Determination program at Cape. He is also the advisor of the Cape Interact Club, Rotary International’s Youth Service Organization. Harrod completed a master's in curriculum and instruction from American College of Education in 2016.

Kathy McMahon – Rehoboth Elementary

McMahon graduated from Elon College in 2000 with a bachelor of science in sports medicine/athletic training. She began her career working as a certified athletic trainer at Indian River High School. As she realized she had an opportunity to have a positive impact on others, she said, she realized she needed to go back to school to become an educator. McMahon worked full time while going to school at Wilmington College, graduating in 2005 and earning a master's in elementary studies. In 2005, she was hired by Cape as a kindergarten teacher at Rehoboth Elementary, where she has worked for 13 years. Currently, McMahon is enrolled in Wilmington University's English for Speakers of Other Languages certification program.