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Award Notification: Dr. Erika Klose (WV '17)
Winfield Middle School
Erika Klose Is WV's 2017-18 Milken Educator
West Virginia's 2017-18 Milken Educator is a rock star, in the most literal sense of the word. Meet science teacher Erika Klose, who worked as a geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey in Woods Hole (MA) before entering the classroom. Erika says her goal is to inspire students to pursue STEM careers, just like the one she fell in love with.
Erika's assembly was a star-studded affair, with West Virginia First Lady Cathy Justice, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Steven Paine (a 1995 Milken Educator), and U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito in attendance. When the roof-raising cheers of "Ms. KLOSE! Ms. KLOSE!" died down, the new Milken Educator thanked her students, her colleagues, and the Milken Family Foundation "for elevating teaching to where I always believed it should be."