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Award Notification:  Gina Benz (SD '15)

Gina Benz Joins South Dakota Milken Educators with $25,000 Award

English teacher Gina Benz holds her students at Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls to high standards—and they deliver. Roosevelt's AP program, which Benz heads, boasts a 76% pass rate on the AP exams, far above the national average. Some students enter college with enough credits to start as juniors.

When Dr. Jane Foley, Milken Educator Awards Senior Vice President, asks Gina why reading is so important, her response resonates with all: "When my students trust me that words matter...[and] that an old book like 'The Scarlet Letter' has meaning for their lives, that's the greatest honor I could have.” Watch Benz accept her career-defining award and a $25,000 check from South Dakota Secretary of Education Dr. Melody Schopp and Foley as dignitaries and veteran South Dakota Milken Educator Award recipients look on.