Katherine Young and Elizabeth Hauser received a national award that recognizes teachers who demonstrate strong, instrumental help to students with print disabilities.

Learning Ally is a nonprofit organization that provides a wide range of services to students from all over the country, as well as the people who support them. Learning Ally awarded them with the Winnie Coyne Reitnouer Excellence in Teaching Award on Mar 9.

“It was such a special day. I feel extremely honored to have received the award, and I can’t believe our faculty went out of their way to plan this for us,” said Katherine Young.

During the halftime period of The Big Game Assembly, Young, who has been working at North for three years, and Hauser, who has been working four years, both were awarded the $4,000 check that recognizes staff of their leadership and service to their students.

Learning Ally recognizes educators that are influential, and who inspire their students to always do their best in school, and keep working hard to achieve their goals.

“With this national award, it encourages others to go the extra mile for their students and to model what that looks like,” said Elizabeth Hauser.

As part of the literacy team, they plan on distributing the money for different programs, creating new opportunities for their students.

“We are excited to meet with our literacy team to figure out how we want to spend this money within our program. We have a lot of exciting ideas, and we want to see if we can make it all happen,” Hauser said.

This is both Hauser and Young’s first time receiving a national award this big. They couldn’t be more honored, but they feel that they couldn’t have done it without the constant incitement of their students.

“I believe Learning Ally presented us with this award because of our students. Our students motivate us to come up with engaging learning activities,” Young said.