Kent State Alumna Surprised With the Joanne Rand Schwartz Teacher of the Year Award

Kent State alumna Kimberly Hathaway was awarded with the Joanne Rand Schwartz Cooperating Teacher of the Year Award on Tuesday, May 18th. 

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While attending a staff meeting at Judith A. Resnik School where she teaches, Kimberly was surprised to see her former student teacher and mentee, Danielle Cardinal (Early Childhood Education, '20), deliver a brief speech about her exceptional experience as a student teacher under Kimberly's leadership.

“The entire time I was part of her classroom, she never treated me like a ‘student-teacher,’ more than anything she treated me like a professional teacher and held me to high expectations of success,” Danielle said. “She was always reminding me that things were going to work out, that we were in this as a team in our classroom, never just hers.”

Developed by the College of EHHS and the Alumni Association's College of Education Alumni Council, this award annually recognizes one teacher whose mentoring of a Kent State student teacher reflects Dr. Joanne Rand Schwartz’s commitment to excellence in teacher education through quality of teaching, professionalism and content mastery within the classroom. Dr. Schwartz served as Dean of the College and Graduate School of Education from 1986 to 2002.

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Kimberly shared a few words with the staff of Judith A. Resnik on her time with Danielle: "Danielle is amazing. I was just talking about you today and the kids [in my class] were like, 'When is she coming back?'" Kimberly said. "She's a get-up-and-go kind of teacher and she's going to be doing a lot of amazing things in the future."

“I am a better teacher and person because of Kimberly Hathaway,” Danielle said. “I couldn't think of a better way to thank her for everything she has done for me than to nominate her for the Cooperating Teacher of the Year Award.”