03-08-2007Fellowships from Lilly Endowment Inc. will help a Warsaw teacher go kayaking and a Tippecanoe Valley teacher better understand opera this summer.
Harrison Elementary School third- and fourth-grade teacher Ethel Ringle and Tippecanoe Valley Middle and High School music teacher Allison Larty both are recipients of the Teacher Creativity Fellowships funded by Lilly Endowment Inc.
“I was shocked,” said Larty. “I was very surprised. I really didn’t think I’d get it on my first try. There was a lot of screaming and jumping up and down.”
Of the 780 that applied this year, 129 Indiana school employees were selected to receive the fellowships. The program enables teachers, principals, guidance counselors and school librarians from the state to take time to pursue their personal interests, explore subjects that interest them, or just get away, according to a press release from Lilly Endowment Inc.
Nine of the recipients were selected as distinguished fellows of the program and received up to $25,000. The other 120, including Ringel and Larty, each received an $8,000 grant for their activities.
Out-of-state judges make recommendations for these awards from a very competitive pool of applicants. Since the program began in 1987, a total of 1,825 Indiana educators have received grants.
Ringle said this was the fourth straight year she applied for the fellowship, but the first year she received it.
“I’m just really excited,” Ringle said. “I don’t think it could have came at a better time. ... I’m ready now to take full advantage of the opportunity.”
She found out she received the fellowship on Feb. 25, but she “knew” she would get it the night before. Ringle said the night before she received the mail informing her she was a recipient, she was staying in a hotel room. She dreamt she got it. The next morning, she woke up and thought that was a “pretty cool” dream. When she got home, she opened her mail to find out the dream was true. After three years of receiving mail that told her she wouldn’t receive the fellowship, “Now I know what the other one looks like,” she said.
With her fellowship, Ringle will buy all new kayaking gear. She will participate in kayak races around the state and compete in nationals in August in Warren, Pa., for the 40th annual USCA Marathon Canoe and Kayak national championships. She also will use the money to buy computer equipment to start a blog of her kayaking adventures.
In the fall, she plans to start a “Dreamcatchers” club at Harrison. The club will help students explore their dreams and ways to achieve those dreams. Along with guest speakers, she will use her blog to show kids how to reach their dreams. Her students already know Ringle has an interest in kayaking.
“They like when you interweave your personal life with school,” Ringle said. “They’re interested in it.”
Personally, she said the grant will help her just become more serious in her interest. Last year, she was ranked 15th in the state in kayaking. Now, she has the opportunity to become really good at it. In Indiana, she said she kayaks on rivers in Bristol, Elkhart, South Bend, Mishawaka, Wabash and Fort Wayne among others.
She has been kayaking for the past five years, but just started racing two years ago, getting serious about racing last summer.
“I got into it just to be around nature, to relax. I enjoy going down the river,” Ringle said.
In her application for the fellowship, Ringle wrote, in part, “‘Dream Catchers’ is a project to show my students that they can make any of their dreams come true. My dream is to become the national champion in marathon kayak racing.
Larty, with her fellowship, will travel to Europe for three weeks this summer to visit the major opera houses, study opera and learn more about composers and singers.
It was in college where Larty first developed an interest in opera. She is a classically trained singer, and her voice is her primary instrument, she said. In college, she had a few roles in opera.
For her eighth-grade students every year, she teaches a unit on opera. Teaching the unit, she said she’s learned a lot about opera herself. However, she hasn’t seen a lot of opera herself, and the Europe trip will allow her to get into the heart of opera.
While on her trip, Larty said she will do a video journal. She will record her experiences and reactions to shows. She plans to take many pictures during her trip. Afterwards, she will create a Power Point Presentation to use during the eighth-grade opera unit. She also plans to share anecdotes from her trip with her students.
Her trip will start with a visit to the Covent Garden in London. “It’s one of the major opera houses,” Larty said.
She then will travel to Vienna to study Mozart’s house; then Milan and La Scala, Italy; see a “huge outdoor opera festival” in Verona; travel down the west coast and end in Rome.
Larty said both her parents talked about going on the trip with her, and a friend might go along for part of the trip. However, if she goes alone, she said that would be cool, too. She leaves for Europe about the third week in June.
“It’s been such an honor,” Larty said of receiving the fellowship from Lilly Endowment. “I’m so excited about it. ... This is a dream trip I would not have been able to make without Lilly Endowment.”