Local School Teacher Gets Golden Apple Award
Lexus of Highland Park is pleased to announce that one of our own local teachers has received a special award. Mr. John Campbell of Ravinia Elementary School was recently the recipient of the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching.
The Golden Apple is a nonprofit organization that celebrates and supports select teachers that make life-changing differences in the students they teach. They have been in operation for 30 years and every recipient of their award receives a spring quarter sabbatical at Northwestern University as well as a $5,000 award.
There were more than 600 nominations for the Golden Apple award in the Chicago area. The award is given to one exceptional teacher in the pre-k through 3rd grade levels. Mr. Campbell is most certainly deserving of this award. As a music and band teacher at Ravinia, he says he believes in creating “real world” experiences for his students through his lessons. He uses methods such as encouraging students to perform for their classmates once a week and received a grant to purchase ukuleles that are used in his self-created ukulele after-school club. Mr. Campbell also utilizes technology such as Tweeting, blogging, and YouTube tutorials to help teach his students and reach out to the community. John Campbell attained degrees from Kent State University and Michigan State University.
Ravinia started as a two-room school house in 1897 and only had 50 students. Today it houses over 300 students with 20 classrooms, 8 additional instructional areas and its own greenhouse. Along with Mr. Campbell, there are 40 other staff members employed at the school.
Lexus of Highland Park wants to congratulate Mr. John Campbell on his accomplishment and we look forward to seeing more of his great efforts in the future. If you know of someone in the teaching field that deserves recognition, please send us your story. Don’t forget to come in to test drive one of our new Lexus models as well!
