Celebrating the 2024 Student Teacher of the Year

Jessica On was recently recognized as the 2024 NCACTE Fall Forum Student Teacher of the Year at the ninth annual Student Teacher of the Year Awards Ceremony in Raleigh. Jessica student taught at E.K. Powe Elementary School in Durham, NC while completing her program at Duke University. At the Fall Forum the following excerpts from the letters of support for her nomination were shared.

Jonathan Norville, Jessica’s Clinical Educator at E.K. Powe Elementary School, wrote that “Jessica is a fantastic educator. The energy and determination that she brings to the classroom is inspiring. She has the innate ability to build rapport with students, contributing to a robust classroom community where every student feels safe.” He went on to state that she “defied the typical archetypes of a “fun teacher” or “dedicated teacher” and showed everyone [she] could be both.” Dr. Whitney McCoy, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Education at Duke University, described Jessica’s “strong passion for all course content areas and [her] high level of student engagement through practice.” She also added that she not only mastered the content that she teaches, “but she was also critical of how her own upbringing and experiences influenced how she could relate and make change in the field.” In a letter of support for Jessica’s nomination, Dr. Jan Riggsbee, Professor of the Practice of Education at Duke University, emphasized Jessica’s "commitment to cultural diversity, authentic engagement with families and community stakeholders, and restorative, equity-centered practices.” She also expressed that Jessica is a “caring, engaged, and effective educator, a more thoughtful and inspiring teacher-leader, and a more passionate and tireless community advocate,” who’s “work, both current and future, will inspire and bring about transformative ways of teaching and learning and experiencing education” for her students and the communities where she will teach.

Jessica is a transformative teacher who makes learning fun, sees the importance of relationships with students and families, and values all students as unique individuals. She describes herself as “an educator who appreciates cultures deeply, inviting students in to be themselves by showing them who I authentically am, and celebrating all identities in the classroom. She further described herself as an educator [who] will openly make and acknowledge mistakes, setting examples for my students on how we can grow from them.” She also added that she “will ask endless questions and disrupt systems and be an advocate for each and every one of my students and their families.” She is currently teaching fifth grade at Lyons Farm Elementary School in Durham, NC.