Congrats to our Volunteer and Educator Award Recipients
/While we wish we could celebrate and announce these awards at our end of year ice cream social, we know that isn’t possible right now. Our new plan is to celebrate with everyone in the fall, once we are back to at least a slightly more normal version of life. Congratulations to our outstanding volunteer and educator award recipients! Here are some of the reasons why Sacajawea is such a wonderful community.
Golden Acorn Awards
Our Golden Acorn Awards recognize volunteers who go above and beyond.
Seth Bridges (Parker & Will’s dad)
Seth was one of our fearless leaders this year and will continue in the role of co-chair for next year. He’s been an incredibly active member of our PTA since his first son started Kindergarten. Seth updated our PTA website in order to make it a useful, reliable, and relevant resource for our school and community! He also undertook the weekly PTA newsletters, helping to disseminate important information in the easiest way possible. Seth is a great leader who knows how to listen, take action, and solve problems. His thoughtful, measured opinions are highly valued…plus, he’s fun to work with too! Thank you, Seth, for all that you have done and will continue to do!
Karla Sclater (Zack’s Mom)
Karla leads our Arts Fest, is one of the parent reps on the BLT committee, is a member of the Equity and Grants team, and led our Environmental Principles and Safe Routes to School initiatives this year! Karla is a tireless advocate for our kids and our school. She is someone you can always count on to help when there is an ask, and when she sees a need or something that should be done, she takes the initiative to make it happen. All this PLUS she is also the room parent for her son’s classroom. Karla, thank you for being such an important part of our PTA, school, and community!
Outstanding Teacher Award
Our Outstanding Teacher Award recognizes a member of the staff whose dedication and impact is evident throughout the year.
Jahira Teague
Ms. Teague is one of our 2nd-grade teachers. She is a member of the BLT and Equity committees, a school tech support guru, co-founded the NEST program at Sacajawea, and has served as our testing coordinator in previous years. Ms. Teague is constantly going above and beyond what is required of her. She is super organized, thoughtful, and caring. She is also a fantastic teacher who always prioritizes the needs of her students and communicates well with families. She has been a shining star during the online transition and adapted her teaching style to make it feel seamless. When teacher requirements were still in flux, she always made herself available and helped the kids feel as normal as possible. She was one of the first teachers to start doing weekly Zoom calls and has been doing weekly home visits as well. Jahira is always willing to jump in and help where she is needed. She is smart, and her genuine, honest teaching style is appreciated. We will miss her in 2nd grade next year, but can’t wait to see what she does in 4th grade. Thank you so much, Ms. Teague, you are a superstar!
The Roy Norman SHINE Award
The Roy Norman SHINE Award is given in honor of Ms. Norman’s late husband. Roy was an amazing man and the type of person who would jump in to help anyone, anywhere. He fully embodied the SHINE motto at Sacajawea of being Safe, Helpful, Inclusive, Neighborly, and Engaged!
Kara Golgert
Kara has been an integral part of the Sacajawea and Seattle Schools Community since her children attended many years ago. Kara is one of our developmental preschool teachers and she constantly goes above and beyond to take care of and advocate for her kids, our community, and all students in Seattle Public Schools. She is an active member of our PTA, providing her guidance and experience on important issues. She is kind, caring, and inclusive. She is generous with her time and can be found fixing the playground area on weekends. She also serves as Sacajawea’s Union building rep and a BLT member. When Sacajawea was advocating for funding to rebuild and fix our school and playgrounds, Kara was there at the school board meetings providing testimony. She is an invaluable resource to our families, helping so many parents navigate the IEP process as well as providing support for families struggling to cope with children with disabilities and limited services during quarantine. Thank you, Ms. Golgert for your continued passion, advocacy, and ability to SHINE among us!
Matthew Walker
It’s hard to think about Sacajawea without thinking about our amazing PE teacher, Mr. Walker. Matt has been a force to be reckoned with since joining the Sacajawea community in 2009. He more recently served as our co-chair for three years in a row during a few tough transition years. He cares so deeply for all of the kids and families at Sacajawea and truly embodies the heart, soul and spirit of Sacajawea SHINE-ing. He works hard to bring together all the vibrant threads of our community and is a familiar face at nearly every event. He constantly cheers our kids on as well as giving them a gentle nudge when they need to steer themselves out of tricky situations or navigate poor choices and restoration. Matt has a positive attitude that is inspiring. He makes doing the work fun for kids and their parents. During the school closure, Mr. Walker has taken a lead role in ensuring our families in need are taken care of. He has gone above and beyond to collect, organize, and distribute food and supplies to our families. Thank you, Mr. Walker, for showing us what it means to SHINE!
Charlene Shanahan (Calle & Declan’s mom)
Charlene has been an amazing addition to our school as a parent volunteer for the past five years and for the last two she doubled-down on her Sac commitment while also serving as our volunteer coordinator. Her involvement as a parent volunteer has been unmatched and her role as the volunteer coordinator just connects her more closely to all that is Sacajawea. If you have a question about anything, she is your go-to person.
She has led our Equity committee from its beginning and is a reliable leader who is involved in nearly everything that happens at our school. Charlene has run several successful auctions and coordinated/assisted with so many different events there are truly too many to list. During the school closure, Charlene took a lead role in the Packs for Kids/Food Bank organization and coordination.
She is a humble leader who tries to avoid the spotlight and rarely wants to take credit for all that she has done. She always makes everything look so effortless and her dedication and caring is contagious. She inspires people to get involved because she is so involved. She is someone that you can ALWAYS count on to show up and help. She embodies every part of SHINE in her life inside and outside of the school, which is why she is so deserving of this award.
Thank you, Charlene, for helping to make us all SHINE a little brighter. Our school is a better place because of all your efforts!