Daily Reporter staff reports
CUMBERLAND — During the school year, teacher Betsy Kurtz spends her time at Damar Charter Academy encouraging her special needs students to practice their skills, achieve their dreams and overcome obstacles to reach their goals.
This summer, the Cumberland resident made her own dream come true through a 2018 Lilly Endowment Teacher Creativity Fellowship, a grant that encourages teachers to immerse themselves in activities or projects that foster renewal in a field where burn-out is a concern. Only 100 educators were selected from a competitive pool of 540 applicants.
According to a press release, Kurtz received $12,000 to pursue a project that would renew her commitment to teaching and life-long learning. She chose to travel to Alaska and Canada and enhance her photography skills.
Kurtz described her journey through Anchorage, Denali National Park, Talkeetna, Seward, Kenai Fjords National Park, Juneau and Skagway as breathtakingly beautiful. She took helicopter rides over mountains, hiked glaciers, watched whales from a boat, learned from the locals and documented everything along the way through photography.
Now that Kurtz’s trip is complete, her vision is to pass on her knowledge and experiences to the students at Damar. Her class designs the school yearbook, so she plans to help students learn to take higher-quality photographs for both the yearbook and class assignments.
“Teaching is about helping students discover their interests in life and discover their incredible potential,” said Kurtz. “It’s always amazing to let students try something new and watch them react as they grow in ways they never knew were possible.”
