At the time of her Award, Sarah Powley, English teacher and department chair at McCutcheon High School in Lafayette said, "I cannot picture myself in a job that doesn't allow the level of creativity, the measure of independence, and the opportunity to make a difference in people's lives that teaching has provided me." She led the development of a model Honors English curriculum in the Tippecanoe School Corporation, and spearheaded an interdisciplinary program called "Beyond the Pages" to promote reading, literature and the arts through visits from nationally recognized authors such as W.P. Kinsella and poet Gwendolyn Brooks. In 1998, Powley pursued her interest in international education as an exchange teacher in Russia, and participated in a three-year program of student exchanges with a secondary school in Pskov. She and two colleagues established an International Club at McCutcheon, in which students conduct various overseas service projects. In 2006, Powley received a Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship Award to travel to Rwanda, where she served as a guest teacher while studying the country's 1994 genocide. Powley has made numerous presentations on teaching the Holocaust-including presentations about The Children of Willesden Lane-at Indiana Department of Education workshops and National Council of Teachers of English conferences.
In 2009 she was awarded the Lowell Milken Center's Milken Fellowship. In 2009 she was also recognized for her work in Holocaust education with the Irena Sendler Award. She is involved in the promotion of secondary education for students in Rwanda and Burundi and has presented professional development workshops for teachers of English in Rwanda.
2009 Purdue University, M.S., 1985
1965 DePauw University, B.A., 1965
