Milken award recipients arrive in Fort Scott

Michael Aw and Ashley Rippe hope to return home with some new educational ideas following their three-week stay in Fort Scott.

Aw, a sixth grade teacher at Memorial Elementary School in Hopedale, Mass., and Rippe, a second-year fifth grade teacher at Ogden Elementary School in Ogden, Kan., arrived in Fort Scott on Sunday to visit and learn about the Lowell Milken Center, an educational center located at 4 S. Main St., with the goal of incorporating what they learn at the center into their teaching styles.

"We want to bring diversity back to the classroom," Rippe said during a Tuesday interview with The Fort Scott Tribune. "All first year teachers should come to the Milken Center."

Rippe, the recipient of the 2002 National State Teacher of the Year Family Scholarship for her work at Kansas State University and 2008 recipient of the Milken Internship Award, also holds the position of lead science teacher at her school. She has experience in creating new programs for her school, including a program titled "Mission Possible: Future College Grads," which is designed to excite young students about the possibilities that a college education can provide.

Aw, a native of Burma, was the 2004 recipient of the Milken Educator Award through the Milken Family Foundation and the 2008 recipient of the Milken Fellowship Award.

Aw said he is proud to be honored by the educational center, and that the center is a prime example of why he enjoys his work as a teacher.

"It's an absolute honor (the award) and a life-changing moment," Aw said. "Teaching has really been my true calling."

Both teachers were chosen for the Milken awards from numerous educators who submitted applications to the center this year, Milken Center Director Norm Conard said.

Rippe and Aw said that as educators, their goal while visiting the Milken Center is to help center staff develop historic diversity projects and to learn more about the center's mission, which is to ultimately teach respect and understanding among all people.

They also hope to be able to teach their own students about people, places and events in history that could go unnoticed without research.

"We want to be an active voice, and teach them (students) that there are all these people out there who are not noticed who did all these incredible things," Rippe said.

One such unsung hero, Irena Sendler, became the basis for a history project designed by a group of Uniontown students in 1999 -- a featured project at the Milken Center. That project, called "Life in a Jar," told the story of Sendler, who saved more than 2,500 Jewish children from Nazi Germans during World War II. The project has since garnered national and even worldwide recognition and acclaim. Sendler died May 12 at the age of 98. Conard, the students' former instructor, directed the "Life in a Jar" project.

Rippe and Aw said that during their stay in Fort Scott, they plan to discuss the "Life in a Jar" project and brainstorm other ideas with Conard that may spawn other similar projects in their classrooms, and provide new material for their curriculum.

"This was a small project led by a teacher with a vision," Aw said. "There are tons of projects out there and unsung heroes, and lots of untapped resources for students."

Rippe and Aw said that students they teach at their respective schools learn better and perform better academically by actively participating in class projects and class discussions, rather than by only studying textbooks and listening to lectures.

"Our students learn best by doing, and then they actually want to come to school," Aw said. "It's been proven that their test scores also go up with this type of authentic learning. The kids respond well to performance-based learning, and there's a connection between working hard and being rewarded."

Rippe said she often conducts group learning with her students in which group members discuss current events and other educational topics.

Rippe said she lets the students do most of the talking, and she only participates to help students answer questions.

"Students can take the unknown, and take on the teacher role and find out the answer," Rippe said in describing project-based learning.

This type of project-based learning, which is part of the Milken Center's focus, has been effective, as it allows students to feel like they are becoming more active in the learning process and assuming the role of the teacher, Rippe said.

"It increases their self-esteem and pulls them out of their shell, that's how they learn," she said. "It helps the students take their questions and find answers."

Aw agreed with Rippe, adding that a teacher's main job is to make learning relevant to each student, and make sure the students are fully invested in the topic that is being discussed.

"It's not about 'How smart are you?' but rather 'How are you smart?'" Aw said.

The goal of the Milken Center is to help students and teachers worldwide to choose and develop ideas for educational projects that deal with relevant social issues.

"What I like is that everything is an investigation here, and finding the unknown," Rippe said. "The center is about understanding others around you and teaching students that they are the same as everyone else."

During their three-week stay in Fort Scott, Rippe and Aw plan to attend various community events, and tour some historic sites in the area. The public is also invited to visit the center over the next few weeks to meet the teachers and talk with them about their visit to the area. They plan to return home July 11, a statement from the Milken Center said.

More information about the center and how the Milken award winners are chosen can be found online at www.lowellmilkencenter.org.