Alumna Rebecca Gottfried named Rookie of the Year at Success Academies
SOE alumna Rebecca Gottfried (ABEd ’15, TeachCert ’15) was recognized with a 2019 Success Academy Excellence Award. Success Academy is a charter school network in New York City that serves 17,000 mostly low-income students. Georgia West, Director of External Communications, says that they have a number of University of Michigan alumni working there. “Each year, Success Academy honors select educators at our schools who have demonstrated outstanding talent and commitment,” she explained.
Gottfried is a fourth grade teacher at Success Academy Union Square. She received the Rookie of the Year award, which recognizes first-year educators who have embraced the challenge of teaching and demonstrated exceptional growth. She credited her undergraduate experience as she received the award: “The U-M School of Education is an amazing program that has all of their students working in the classroom as soon as they start. All of my different fieldwork experiences in kindergarten, fourth, and fifth grade gave me unique opportunities to learn to support different types of scholars. My courses were very hands-on and I applied what I was learning in class to my fieldwork positions. One person who stands out is my mentor teacher who allowed me to grow as a teacher with her very positive, supporting, and welcoming approach.”