Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Eight Educators Advance to Final Round of National Competition in NFTE Model Teacher Challenge

  • 06/18/19

New York, N.Y. – NFTE (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship) today announced the national finalists in the NFTE Model Teacher Challenge, a highly competitive annual challenge for educators who teach the NFTE curriculum in middle school and high school classrooms across the country.

For more than 30 years, NFTE’s innovative entrepreneurship curriculum has been activating the entrepreneurial mindset in youth from under-served communities. The Model Teacher Challenge is a way to identify educators performing at the highest levels, promoting consistent student achievement, demonstrating effective classroom management strategies, and showing sound pedagogical content knowledge.

The eight teachers named as the 2019 national finalists won top honors in regional competition rounds and now advance to the next level, competing for the top national prize. The finalists are:

  • Brandi Cobb-Davis, a business and entrepreneurship teacher at the Environmental Charter High School in Lawndale, CA
  • Sandra Cruz, a business and entrepreneurship teacher at Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical High School in Queens, NY
  • Joan McCoo, a business and entrepreneurship teacher at Bryan Adams High School in Dallas, TX
  • Mary Ellen McCormick, a business and entrepreneurship teacher at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, VA
  • Bernadette Medina, a business and entrepreneurship teacher at the ASPIRA Business and Finance High School in Chicago, IL
  • Tamelya Moore, an entrepreneurship, hospitality and tourism teacher at Homestead Senior High School in Homestead, FL
  • Anne Nguyen, a marketing and entrepreneurship teacher at the Sports & Medical Sciences Academy in Hartford, CT
  • Walker Seligson, an economics and entrepreneurship teacher at Galileo Academy of Science and Technology in San Fransciso, CA

The 2018-2019 Model Teacher Challenge began last fall, at the start of the school year now ending. Teachers who entered the challenge were observed in the classroom and also submitted portfolios including their lesson plans and reflections as well as videos of themselves teaching entrepreneurship concepts.

The national finalists named today each won a $6,000 cash award when they took first place in their regional competition. Now they’re in the running for an additional $20,000 prize package, which includes a $15,000 cash award for the teacher who takes first place in the national finals and a $5,000 cash award for the winning teacher's school, intended to fund resources for entrepreneurship education. The national winner will be named at the NFTE Entrepreneurial Teacher Summit this July.

Shawn Osborne, President and CEO of NFTE, says, "These educators who are national finalists really exemplify the best of our Teacher Corps. They’re highly skilled, disciplined and passionate educators who believe that developing an entrepreneurial mindset can truly change the life trajectory of their students.”

The Model Teacher Challenge is made possible through the generous support of the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, a private philanthropy that promotes entrepreneurship education as a driver of economic growth and innovation.

 

Featured

  • Utah Valley University Opens New Engineering Building

    Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, recently held a grand-opening ceremony for the new Scott M. Smith Engineering Building, according to a news release. The facility is one of the largest engineering buildings in the state at almost 200,000 square feet, and it plays home to the university’s Smith College of Engineering and Technology (SCET).

  • UNL Kiewit Hall

    Designing for Engineering Excellence: Integrating Sustainability and Wellness at UNLs Kiewit Hall

    Kiewit Hall at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln exemplifies how academic institutions can integrate sustainability and wellness into modern learning environments. With an integrated and collaborative team approach, Kiewit Hall addresses enhanced learning and creativity, physical health, and mental wellness, and fosters a sense of community through innovative design, operations, and policy solutions.

  • Spaces4Learning Trends & Predictions for Educational Facilities in 2026: Part I

    We asked, you answered, and the results are in! Last year, we put out a call for submissions to collect our readership’s opinion on trends and predictions for K–12 and higher education facilities in 2026.

  • Northeastern University Breaks Ground on New Housing Community

    Northeastern University recently announced the groundbreaking of a new student housing community on its campus in Boston, Mass., according to a news release. The university is partnering with American Campus Communities (ACC) for development of the project, which will have the capacity for 1,200 students and has a scheduled completion date of fall 2028.