2022 Local Educators of the Year Get Free Rent for a Year!

3 local teachers have been selected as 2022 Educators of the Year.   OnPoint Community Credit Union will pay their mortgage or rent for an entire year, and their schools will get $2500 each.

The three winners are:

• Jennifer Krebs, a kindergarten teacher at Marcola Elementary School in Marcola, Oregon
• Emmanuel Aquino, an 8th grade English – Spanish immersion teacher at Beaumont Middle School in Portland
•  Jesse Bolt, a 9-12th grade English, reading intervention and braille teacher at the Washington State School for the Blind in Vancouver.

On Point says they selected Jennifer Krebs as the K-5 Educator of the Year because of her unique curriculum and passion for ensuring students are ready for their next step in education
propelled half her Kindergarteners to a first-grade reading level in the first five months of school. Krebs’ secret to success is creating individualized lesson plans rather than teaching the entire class at once. Her approach was so successful that Marcola School District’s Superintendent asked her to assist in developing a preschool program for their elementary school. She also teaches financial literacy to her students, recognizing the importance of engaging children at a young age about money management. In addition, Krebs serves as a teacher mentor and supervisor to new teachers.

Emannuel Aquino was selected as the  6-8 Educator of the Year.  He’s a bilingual educator who stands out for his efforts to help Spanish-speaking students and their families feel welcome and seen. Aquino teaches 8th-grade language arts and social studies in Spanish and English, with roughly half of his students being English language learners. He creates his own curriculum,
translating his lessons, and researching Common Core Standards and Oregon’s English Language Proficiency Standards to ensure students receive lessons that improve their critical thinking and language skills. Part of his success in the classroom comes back to his goal of making his curriculum relevant to his students. He proactively answers the common question, “Why do I need to know this?”. Aquino also invests in each student, both inside and outside of his classroom. For example, s many families struggled with food shortages during the pandemic,
Aquino delivered boxes of groceries to students who didn’t have transportation.

Jesse Bolt is the 9-12 Educator of the Year at Washington State School for the Blind in Vancouver.  Jesse is an English teacher who specializes in braille and self-advocacy skills, and is a local leader and advocate for students who have multiple exceptionalities. Bolt demonstrates a profound sensitivity to the needs of their students at the Washington State School for the Blind. They designed original learning modules for their class, including poetry writing, literary analysis and podcast production. Bolt’s impact is felt beyond their classroom’s walls. They led the implementation of a school-wide reading intervention program for struggling braille and print readers. Bolt also helped students establish the first Gender Sexuality Alliance club and is a
member of the school’s first Equity and Inclusion committee. On a national level, they work with test writers to create a more accessible language proficiency assessment for English Learners with cognitive disabilities, including those who are blind or have low vision.

There are several runners-up for the 2022 Educator of the Year who get a $5000 cash prize, and $1500 to their schools.  They are:
K-5 Runner-up – Carissa Shrout
K-5 music, Quatama Elementary School, Hillsboro School District 1J, Hillsboro, Ore.
6-8 Runner-up – Carrie Scaife
8 th grade language arts, Cedar Ridge Middle School, Oregon Trail School District, Sandy, Ore.
9-12 Runner-up – Jason Galbraith
9-12 th grade computer science, Sunset High School, Beaverton School District, Beaverton, Ore.

at www.onpointcu.com or 503-228-7077 or 800-527-3932.