Sparks elementary teacher wins Milken Educator Award

There’s something special about Sparks’ elementary schools, and this year is no exception.

At Alice Maxwell Elementary School last Thursday morning, the room was packed with students, local dignitaries, teachers, media, and education officials gathered at an event unofficially known as the “Oscars of Teaching”. To celebrate what was in store, everyone from Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson and Washoe County school board trustees to Astro the school security dog was there.

After a lovely musical performance by third grade students, Interim Superintendent Dr. Kristen McNeill explained why the students and media were there.

“Do you know what my favorite part of my job is?” she asked the students. “It’s not recess, it’s not lunch—it’s being here with all of you,” she said. “And I was told that Alice Maxwell is the best school in Sparks. Is that true?”

The kids cheered.

“Is it the best school in the State of Nevada? In the nation? On the planet?” Dr. McNeill asked. Her questions were met with more cheers, wiggles, and a couple of ear-piercing screams that drew cross looks from nearby teachers. She introduced the panel of attendees at the front, followed by a speech by Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone Ebert. Ebert talked about how Alice Maxwell was one of only three Title 1 schools in the Washoe County School District to get a three-star grade or higher, and how teachers were a big part of that.

“The governor looks and checks in on you, too, and he knows that you are all doing amazing,” she added.

Ebert then got to the heart of the assembly. She told the kids how a special friend was there, an entrepreneur named Lowell Milken. She said he had enough money to buy a football team.

“Whoa,” the kids said. Ebert explained that instead of doing that, Milken decided to take all his money and invest it in education across America.

“Thank you!” the kids yell.

Lowell Milken then addressed the crowd. “I’m here today because I’m looking for an adult I’ve never met before. I’m looking for a leader,” Milken said. He called a kid to the front, and fourth grader Gus explained what a leader was. A third grader named Ruth shared what “excellence” meant. And a fifth grader told Milken what her definition of “community” was. Milken asked kindergartener Luca who helped him do his very best in school, and he answered, “teachers”.

“We don’t recognize, celebrate, and honor teachers as much as other professions,” Milken said. Therefore, the Milken Family Foundation gives away $25,000 awards to 75 educators across the nation every year. Along with the cash prize, this award not only empowers its recipients to “celebrate, elevate, and activate” the K-12 profession, but Milken Educators/classroom heroes are treated like celebrities (some of them have even given autographs to students).

Past Milken Educator award recipients and third grade teachers Jason Murray (Florence Drake Elementary School) and Liz Barnum (Katherine Dunn Elementary School) were also there. “Alice Maxwell was the first school I ever worked at,” Barnum said, and they talked about how the Milken Educator award impacted their lives.

With that, they presented kindergarten teacher Yamilet Lopez with this year’s Milken Educator Award. She looked shocked. Lopez looked nervous. And when she looked at her students, she relaxed when seeing their smiling, proud faces.

Lowell Milken said, “We believe you have the potential to do even more amazing things with this. But all these teachers deserve recognition—thank you all.”

In accepting the award, Mrs. Lopez said, “I love teaching. I’ve been doing this for 11 years and I love coming to work.”

Her students gave her hugs and then resumed the rest of their day. After the assembly when a reporter asked Lopez how she felt when she received the award, Lopez replied, “I thought we were having an assembly; when I heard my name I was super shocked and nervous, and then when I saw the kids it helped me feel a bit better.”

This is also the second year in a row that a Sparks teacher won the Milken Educator Award. Drake Elementary School Teacher Jason Murray won the award last year and said, “It’s cool that we’re getting recognized. It’s overwhelming [to receive the Milken Educator Award], it’s a lot. Yamilet will go to the UCLA forum and be surrounded by fellow educators, superintendents of districts, other Milken winners…when I went, people from the Clinton administration were there. I felt a little bit of imposter syndrome, but then I remembered that we’re all just teachers. She has a great road ahead of her.”

Last year, Katherine Dunn Elementary School Teacher Liz Barnum won a Milken Educator Award as well, and Murray is happy he could share that with her.

“Liz and I became good friends [through winning the award], and we’re both third grade teachers. It can be lonely being by yourself with kids all the time so it’s nice to have fellow teachers to bounce ideas off of,” Murray adds. He also says that while he just wants to remain a third-grade teacher, the Milken Educator Award is great for those who want to move further up in their career.

Lopez told the media that she wanted to be a teacher because she had awesome teachers in elementary school. Lopez and her sister are the first ones in her family to have gone to college, and she mentioned that it was special to receive this award coming from an immigrant family.

When her family moved to Sparks, Lopez attended Kate Smith Elementary School.

“My favorite teacher was Ms. Ray, and my second favorite was Ms. Anderson,” Lopez smiles. “I didn’t know English well and they helped me a lot. I was also very shy, and they helped me find a group of friends,” she recalls.

Lopez hopes to use her $25,000 to earn a master’s degree but she also just had a baby six months ago as well. “I never had the money to go back to college before and now maybe I’ll have the chance,” she said. Lopez earned a Bachelor of Science in elementary education from the University of Nevada, Reno, in 2012.

As far as advice for other teachers, Lopez offers, “Keep working super hard, keep doing what you enjoy, what you love. We don’t do this for the recognition, but it is nice. A ‘thank you’ goes a really long way. ‘I love you’ also goes a long way. I always get hugs from my students, and it all means a lot.”

For more information about the Milken Educator Awards, visit https://www.milkeneducatorawards.org/.