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Fremont native wins teaching prize

Posted 11/25/22

If sharing is caring, it’s safe to say teacher Jessie Kolakowski cares a whole lot about her school community.

The special education teacher at the Tioga Central School in Tioga Center was …

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Fremont native wins teaching prize

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If sharing is caring, it’s safe to say teacher Jessie Kolakowski cares a whole lot about her school community.

The special education teacher at the Tioga Central School in Tioga Center was in her classroom working one-on-one with a small group of students this week when she was visited by Tioga Superintendent Josh Roe and a representative of teacher resource website Teach Starter this week.

The big surprise was a cart full of classroom supplies from fidget toys to classroom maps to graphic novel versions of classic books to engage students. The cart’s contents represented Kolakowski’s entire classroom wishlist, a total prize package worth $500.

But Kolakowski had a surprise of her own: The Fremont Center native grad had loaded up her classroom wishlist with supplies she knew were needed not just in her own classroom but by teachers throughout the small K-12 school.

“This is for the whole school community,” Kolakowski said of the classroom headphones, educational games, and more supplies spilling over from the cart. “Because at Tioga we are a community. A lot of this will be spread out among the other teachers for their classrooms.”

Teach Starter chose Kolakowski’s name at random this fall after running a classroom wishlist giveaway for teachers during the back-to-school season. The site, which creates curriculum-aligned resources for teachers throughout the US, is run by teachers who have been in classrooms just like Kolakowski’s and know all too well that American teachers spend an average of $750 out of pocket on school supplies for their students. Classroom wishlists like Kolakowski’s have become common place with teachers turning to the internet for help in funding students’ needs.

The phenomenon was even chronicled on an episode of Emmy-nominated ABC comedy Abbott Elementary this past season, with characters on the show turning to strangers for help with basic classroom supplies.

Every teacher who subscribed to Teach Starter to access resources during the back-to-school season was entered for a chance to win their classroom wishlist as a means to give back to the teaching community. That includes Kolakowski, who says she turned to the site for its variety of differentiated resources for students like hers.

“At Teach Starter, we create resources to help teachers set their classrooms up for success, and it’s the teachers like Jessie Kolakowski who remind us why we love what we do every day,” Teach Starter CEO Liz McMillan shared in a press release. “We know these last two years have been particularly challenging for teachers, and yet every day they’re walking into classrooms, rolling up their sleeves, and inspiring their students.”

Kolakowski teaches special education and history in Tioga Center in a district she likened to Delaware Valley Central School — the former Callicoon district where she attended school prior to its merger with neighboring districts to create the current Sullivan West Central School District.

It’s clear her new supplies are going to good use with students already diving into the goodies before the Democrat had even left the room!

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