By Brenna Eller
MOUNDRIDGE, Kan. — Ad Astra Radio is proud to announce the most recent recipient of the Classroom Hero Award presented by Peoples Bank and Trust to Mrs. Vania Winsor of Moundridge High School.
Each month, Ad Astra Radio randomly selects a different educator, from community nominations, to receive the Classroom Hero Award, along with a “Thank You” gift basket. Gift items are courtesy of community partners, including Peoples Bank and Trust, Midway Motors, Stutzman’s Greenhouse, Pizza Ranch, and The Foto Cowboy.
Mrs. Winsor teaches English II, English III, College Prep English (Honors English III) and Yearbook.
She has taught at Moundridge High School for 18 years and has been a teacher for 28 years altogether. She graduated from Hesston High School and earned her teaching degree from Southeast Missouri State University.
“My first year I taught in Healy, which is way out west,” Winsor said. “Just a very small school. I was just there for one year.”
At Healy, Mrs. Winsor taught 7th through 12th graders because she was the only teacher for English/Literature at the school. Since then, she has been teaching to all high school level students, and primarily sophomores, juniors and seniors.
What Mrs. Winsor enjoys most about teaching English is the interaction she receives with her students.
“You get to have interactions with kids in a different way because they’re reading and they’re thinking about things,” she said. “You’re teaching them to communicate and express themselves and you never know what’s going to happen.”
Winsor added that every class reacts differently even when it’s the same story being discussed, which she always finds interesting.
In a nomination submitted to Ad Astra Radio, Mrs. Winsor was described as being a creative teacher who finds ways to make books being read in class fun and interesting to students, whether it’s having them sit outside to read or getting the students to act out scenes in the books like they are in a play.
“Mrs. Winsor always kept us all on the edge of our seats,” the nominator shared. “In Yearbook, she does an amazing job of teaching all incoming students as they learn how to use the programming and learn to take pictures. She always keeps us on our toes and laughing in all her classes, and her kindness makes all her students’ days a little brighter.”
The Classroom Hero Award seeks to highlight the hard work and dedication of those on the front lines in our local schools. Nominations are continually being accepted at https://www.adastraradio.com/classroom-hero.
Ad Astra Radio has been locally owned and operated since 1986 and is proud to be your hometown radio station.
