The WISH-TV team surprised Catherine Duda with the Golden Apple Award. She even asked if it was all a prank. No, Miss Duda, everyone really does appreciate you! (WISH-TV photo)
By HANNA MORDOH
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
WISH-TV celebrates extraordinary teachers in central Indiana with the WISH-TV Golden Apple Award.
The award comes with a trophy, a school supply shopping spree to Teachers’ Treasures, and a surprise visit from the News 8 team.
November’s Golden Apple Award winner is Miss Catherine Duda. She’s a family and consumer science teacher in Westfield Washington Schools.
At Westfield High School, students are learning the academic essentials like math, science, and language arts. However, one teacher is bringing the bedrock of life skills to life.
“Everything she teaches and the foundation of what you learn in each one of her classes is something you can apply to your day-to-day life, whether that’s food safety, cleaning safety, or just relationship skills. It’s super useful and super applicable to every single day,” Jaden Atha, 17, said.
“[She shows us] how to communicate with other people and be respectful and just hearing that from her made me feel like, ‘Oh, if she can do, I can do it,’” 17-year old Bjork Millard added.
These students are talking about Miss Duda. She teaches interpersonal relationships, nutrition and wellness, and principles of childhood education to high school students. She’s also an example of what being a successful adult looks like.
“She is like a teacher and a mentor for everyone in the school,” Millard said. “She’s very good at communicating and also forming relationships with her students. So, they create that bond.”
“Like a light bulb,” Atha explained. “She just always bright, brightens up the room. You can just tell she’s a person that you could go to with questions or concerns. A very warming presence, I would say, is the biggest thing about her is you can just tell she’s joyful in everything she does.”
WISH-TV photo
That joy radiates from her classroom into her curriculum. In fact, she just got her masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
Fellow teacher Renee Kohlman says Duda isn’t a template teacher, and always changes things up to keep learning exciting.
“She’s just like she’s an amazing curriculum designer,” Kohlmann said. “She’s always incorporating like trivia and games and just a variety of different assignments. So it’s not always the same thing every day. She tries to make it interactive. Everything from the cooking aspect to interpersonal relationships, which she also teaches and like made that class so awesome, and the kids love it now.”
“She goes to them,” fellow teacher Michelle Goudy explained. “She finds lessons that inspires them. She finds topics that they want to learn about, that they need to become life ready after high school.”
Miss Duda teaches kids everything from conflict resolution to cooking. She is a trained chef turned educator, so she takes culinary to the next level. However, she focuses most on building relationships and teaching kids how to do the same.
“It’s not just the way in which she teaches it,” Julie McComb added. “It’s her as a person. She, she is just magnetic and the kids are just drawn to her. And whether it’s for a listening ear, if they’re having a bad day or to review material, they all know that she cares so much about them,” career and technical education teacher.”
She says Miss Duda’s care is genuine. This is not a job for her, but it is a calling.
“She always told me that the reason why she wanted to be a teacher is she wanted to change lives,” McComb explained.
WISH-TV photo
Miss Duda is changing lives after school, too. She heads culinary club called “Foodies Rock,” and she leads Safebae, a group educating kids about dating violence, healthy relationships, and consent.
She is also in charge of FCCLA (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America), helping students explore careers and do community service.
“She loves what she does. She truly loves what she does and it shows every day,” McComb said.
That’s why McComb nominated Miss Duda for the WISH-TV Golden Apple Award.
So, along with her mom, dad, and boyfriend, the WISH-TV team went to surprise Miss Duda with the Golden Apple Award. She was shocked and asked if it was all a prank.
Click here to nominate a deserving teacher for the Golden Apple Award.
This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/golden-apple/westfield-teacher-wins-golden-apple.
