Oak Park Elementary School District 97 teachers Diane Conmy and Sandra Noel had a lot more in common than their recent honor as two of the 30 finalists for The Golden Apple Awards this year.
Noel’s daughters were good friends with Conmy’s daughter Erica. The girls grew up together while the mothers worked at the elementary schools.
Conmy’s daughter was struck and killed by an Amtrak train in the summer of 2002. She was 19. Both Conmy, 50, who teaches third grade at Lincoln Elementary School, 1116 S. Grove Ave., and Noel, 57, a physical education teacher at Hatch Elementary School, 1000 N. Ridgeland Ave., found out about their honor around the same time a couple of weeks ago.
“It’s extremely exciting,” said Noel, whose taught at Hatch 16 years. “It’s such an honor and it’s so wonderful for physical education.”
As kids, they were told to always bring an apple to the teacher at the start of each semester. Apparently, some Oak Park parents brought the two teachers to the attention of the Golden Apple Foundation, which announced the finalists of its 2006 Golden Apple Awards on Monday.
The awards are given to accomplished teachers across the Chicago area. Conmy has been a teacher for 12 years, including the last six at Lincoln. Noel is a 30-year teaching veteran, having spent nearly half of her career at Hatch.
“I’m very grateful to whoever nominated me,” added Conmy, who has her suspicions of the generous culprit but wouldn’t name names.
A total of 850 teachers were nominated last fall. Ten winners will be announced in March. The 30 finalists will be honored Feb. 25 at the House of Blues in downtown Chicago.
Conmy received her teaching degree from National Louis University in 1993. She already had a bachelor’s degree before deciding to become a teacher. Conmy said she’s always been involved in teaching, either as a volunteer or parent at Lincoln where her daughter and son Jonathan attended.
She said working at Lincoln was like a dream come true.
“It’s been like a second family here,” said, Conmy, who remembers how supportive everyone was after her daughter’s death. “I think if I had been anywhere else it would have been very difficult, but I felt a great deal of support coming back to work.”
Noel, who grew up in the Austin Community right across Austin Boulevard, remembers how different things were as a young girl growing up without much in-school athletics.
“Physical education has always been a joy for me,” she said. “There was no physical education for girls. I learned how to play volleyball at Beye. You either played sports after school or at summer camp. That was it.”
She said camp was like going to heaven for her. Noel said she’s happy to see the opportunities available for girls today, and only wishes that more families would do healthy activities together.
“Sometimes we as adults go to the health club and leave the kids at home,” she said. “We have to find a way to bring families together to have fun.”
Both said there were teachers who inspired them when they were students, and they try to bring that same passion and enthusiasm to their classrooms.
“For me, it’s very, very important to get to know my kids,” said Conmy. “I know if they’re sad or worried about something. I know if they’re struggling with academics. It’s important that the children see teachers a human beings, with flaws.”
Last year, Julian Middle School teacher Seth Baker won the award, and the previous year, Oak Park and River Forest High School teacher Aaron Podolner won.
CONTACT tdean@wjinc.com