A small crowd of K-12 students and teachers filed into the bleachers of the Nenana City School gym on Thursday. Nobody seemed to know why they were there. Or why the town’s mayor was there. Or why there was a camera crew darting around the gym.
The school serves about 200 kids in Nenana, a small town about 50 miles south of Fairbanks on the Parks Highway. The students didn’t know it, but they were gathered to celebrate a very special staff member — one who was about to get a national teaching award.
But the catch was, it had to be a surprise, right up until the teacher was presented with a comically oversized check for $25,000. After a bit of a buildup — explaining what the award was and teasing the dollar amount — Milken Family Foundation representative Joshua Barrett called reading teacher Emily Snyder forward.
When they heard her name, Nenana’s students went wild — screaming and stomping their feet. Snyder, wide-eyed, choked back a sob then cried outright when her students rushed into her arms.
While Snyder caught her breath, Alaska Department of Education and Early Development commissioner Deena Bishop remarked on the significance of the award.
“She's not just getting noticed in Alaska,” she said. “This is a national organization that can identify very keenly [who is] good at their work. And teachers going into the profession are, really, a servant people — servant leaders. Nobody's really getting rich in education.”
Styled “the Oscar of teaching,” the Milken Educator Award honors teachers who are usually in the early-to-middle stages of their career. Candidates are evaluated for their ability to mentor and support not only their students, but also their peers.
Nenana City School principal Stephen Calkin was one of Snyder’s references for the award. He’s her supervisor now, but he got to know Snyder as a peer when he was a teacher.
“It was really clear from early on that she's a phenomenal educator,” Calkin said. “She understands how people learn — especially how young students learn. She's always willing to reflect on her education and her practice, and she brings that energy and passion and dedication everywhere she goes. And I'll tell you: all of our evidence suggests that it's working.”
Snyder was a Peace Corps education volunteer, and she’s taught all over the world — from Ethiopia to Myanmar. Of the 10 years she’s been a teacher, she’s spent four in Nenana, where she works as the Nenana City School’s reading instructor.
Snyder has hosted literacy cafes with students and parents as part of an effort to increase literacy across the Nenana City School District. She says she never expected this level of recognition.
“I'm feeling really great,” said Snyder. “I feel really honored right now, and really excited about everything that's just happened. So, yeah, it's crazy!”
As for what she’ll do with the prize money — after she buys dinner for her mom, Snyder said she plans to invest what’s left in her 2-year-old daughter’s education.
