Teacher of the Year semifinalist
English teacher Kathy Romero is one of 25 semifinalists for Minnesota Teacher of the Year.
Romero spent over 30 years in business before teaching. She’s currently in her 14th year as an educator with eight years in St. Paul Public Schools. She taught five years of middle school at Murray before joining Como’s staff in 2018.
Romero deflects praise and views her nomination as acknowledgement of hard working educators in the Como community.
“There cannot be individual success in our business,” Romero said. “I am honored to be a part of our passionate group of educators that show up every day for our amazing students. I am sincerely and deeply humbled by this recognition and grateful for the opportunity to represent Como.”
When discussing the year of distance learning during the pandemic, Romero said it reinforced that “education is a relationship business.”
She noted, “Relationships have been the primary tool in attempting to bridge the gap for our disenfranchised students to gain access to the skills needed for independence. The pandemic has significantly weakened our tool belt. With that said, we have witnessed and experienced extreme examples of resilience! And through this we have learned, or been reminded, of the power of our SPPS students.”
State History Day qualifiers
Como students and their History Day research projects have advanced from the St. Paul regional competition to Minnesota’s State History Day event.
Paw Wah, Gay Nee Thaw and Kabao Xiong qualified in the group documentary category for their informative 10-minute film “The Stonewall Riots.”
Kai Sackreiter, Soren Sackreiter, Alice Wagner-Hamstad and Zach Bollman qualified in the group website category for their elaborate and topical project “For the Love of Learning: MECC and Communication Through Educational Technology.”
Taylor Fairbanks qualified in the individual exhibit category for her insightful digital display of “A Fight For the People’s Land” that examines and chronicles Native American history.
State History Day is traditionally a festive day at the University of Minnesota. However, because of pandemic restrictions, projects will be evaluated remotely and an awards ceremony will be live-streamed on May 2.
—Eric Erickson
