Ashland-Greenwood's Nancy Lueking wins 2009 McAuliffe Prize

Nancy Lueking, a family and consumer sciences teacher in Ashland-Greenwood Public Schools for the past 31 years, has been awarded this year's Christa McAuliffe Prize for Courage and Excellence in Education by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Education and Human Sciences.

Lueking was honored at a ceremony March 8 at the Nebraska Union on the UNL City Campus. She was presented with a plaque and a $1,000 prize. In addition, her school received a $500 stipend.

The Christa McAuliffe Prize for Courage and Excellence in Education was established in 1986. Gregg Wright, associate professor at UNL's Center on Children, Family and the Law, and his young children followed the Challenger mission and Christa McAuliffe, the teacher aboard the shuttle, closely. Wright recalls, "When the explosion happened, it had a big impact on my family and on me."

Wright had worked in schools throughout his career and said he always felt that teachers were undervalued. Seeing McAuliffe on the space shuttle that day helped him to realize how important courage is to teaching. "After the accident, I wanted to do something to recognize that courage," said Wright. With the help of the University Foundation, the prize to award courageous teachers in Nebraska began to take shape.

This prize is different than other "Teacher of the Year" awards. "Rewarding courage," said Wright, "automatically selects out a slightly different kind of teacher." The teachers who are recognized are all excellent educators, but they go beyond excellence with courageous action. Courage can be displayed in many different ways, but according to Wright, the common denominator among all of the prizewinners is the lasting and positive effect they have had on their students and their community.

Courage is an important quality not often recognized in teachers. The McAuliffe Prize recognizes this important form of courage in Nebraska educators. In the foreword to a 2007 publication about the prize, former Nebraska governor and senator Bob Kerrey wrote, "The trends affecting education today make courageous teachers even more important, affecting every school in Nebraska . . . Courage is not taught by a curriculum; it is caught from the example of others."

Three other nominees for this year's prize were also been chosen for special recognition: Amy Anderson, a fourth-grade teacher from Howard Elementary in Grand Island; Delores Drew, a reading specialist from Blair Community Schools, and Nancy Russell, a reading resource teacher from Gordon Elementary in the Gordon-Rushville Public Schools.

The McAuliffe Prize was part of an event also honoring this year's inductees in Pi Lambda Theta, a professional education honorary association of students and educators committed to recognizing persons of superior scholastic achievement and high potential for professional leadership. Forty-one majors in the College of Education and Human Sciences were honored with induction in the honorary society. As members of Pi Lambda Theta, students develop ties with professionals who serve in a wide variety of educational capacities.

"This is a wonderful way to bridge generations between the best of Nebraska's teachers and the best of our future teachers," said Marjorie Kostelnik, dean of the College of Education and Human Sciences and co-chair of the McAuliffe Prize committee.

For more information on the prize, visit the Christa McAuliffe Prize Web site, http://courage.unl.edu.