The Singer Prizes are a University tradition at Commencement time to honor the high school teachers or staff members who have had a profound impact on a graduate’s education and growth. This year, Callie Andler, Greg Beckman, Heather Buskirk and Michelle Hill were recognized with the 2015 Singer Family Prize for Excellence in Secondary Teaching, for their significant influence on Rochester’s newest alumni.
Each year, seniors in the College are invited to nominate a high school teacher for consideration for the Singer Family Prize. The four award winners receive a plaque and $3,000, as well as $2,500 for their school. Singer Prize recipients are also invited to the University of Rochester’s commencement ceremony—this year on Sunday, May 17—to watch their former students graduate.
“The Paul Singer Family Foundation feels strongly that while devoted secondary school teachers play a vital role in the intellectual development of American society, they often receive little recognition or acclaim for their endeavors,” said Gordon Singer, son of Paul Singer ’66, who endowed the prize.
Callie Andler, School Counselor, Charlotte High School, Rochester
Callie Andler was nominated by graduating senior Tanya May for her courage, fearlessness, support, and compassion.
May, who recently earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Arts & Sciences, said that Andler “cares for more than just her paycheck. She cares for more than just academics. She cares for the student, their life, and their future.”
May’s nomination letter goes on to say that Andler understands that students may come from economic hardship and see many difficult things in their environment, and that regardless of what she has to do, she makes time to talk to her students and keeps up with the happenings of their lives. Andler also pushes her students to their maximum potential—encouragement is one of her strongest points.
Andler’s compassion and genuine care continue well after the students leave high school. Whether the student chooses college or not, she keeps in touch with students and checks in to see how they are.
Greg Beckman, AP Literature teacher, Notre Dame High School, Sherman Oaks, Calif.
Greg Beckman was nominated by graduating senior Lilly Camp. In her nomination letter, Camp writes that she “had anticipated his class for years, despite my distaste for English.”
Camp, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and political science from Arts & Sciences, says that Beckman changed her life and challenged each student in different ways. She says “some days left me questioning my in-class convictions; some changed the way I thought about the world.
“When we read James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, we discussed personality extremes and the way we move between them like a pendulum. Beckman raised the question of why we define property when we read Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. We debated about what love looks like over Gabriel García Márquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera. Terms like narrative gating and alliteration got lost in deep conversations about Shakespeare’s sonnets, T.S. Eliot, and, in early spring, roundabout debates about leaving.”
Camp notes that Beckman “challenged us to get away from Los Angeles and experience the world.” She notes that “Four years later, I am starting my senior honors thesis as a creative writing major, I am out and proud of my sexuality, and I am living nearly 3,000 miles away from L.A. I have Greg Beckman to thank, and my story is unique, but it is far from the only one.”
Heather Buskirk, physics and science teacher, Johnstown High School, Johnstown N.Y.
Heather Buskirk was nominated by graduating senior Sandra Westover. “A.P. Physics with Heather Buskirk was my first taste of what my journey to becoming an engineer would be like,” said Westover, who earned a bachelor’s degree in optical engineering from the Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Westover says Buskirk’s true inspiration is how she makes physics accessible to every student. Along with teaching A.P. Physics and New York State Regents Physics, Buskirk developed two other programs: a conceptual physics class, where physics was taught in a less mathematically rigorous manner; and The Learning Project, an interdisciplinary project-based program for seniors. The Learning Project allows students who get lost in the standard high school setting to realize their full potential by solving real world problems in a hands-on manner. Through these programs, Buskirk has sparked a fire in students that have led to them pursuing ambitions they before thought impossible.
“I dove head first into the physics material, sometimes getting deeply over my head,” said Westover. “Yet, whether it was about class material, material I’d seen in an online lecture, or something I had read, Buskirk was always willing to field my multitude of questions. She took her own time after class and during lunch to explain material beyond the scope of the class.”
Michelle Hill, math teacher, Hamburg High School, Hamburg, N.Y.
Graduating senior Bonnie Ball nominated Michelle Hill for the Singer Award. Ball says Michelle and her husband, Derek Hill, who also teaches math at Hamburg High School, were both great influences to her and many other students whom they taught.
The Hills greatly strengthened the Advanced Placement department and allowed students who were in general math courses to still take AP classes although they had not been in accelerated math courses starting in eighth grade. They set up a summer session to allow these students, like Ball, to learn pre-calculus and be prepared for AP Calculus AB. “Without this program, we would not have been provided the opportunity to reach the AP Calculus level because of our 8th grade mathematics placing. The Hills were not reimbursed for this summer session that they held, nor were they reimbursed for the “Good Morning Math” sessions they held at 7 a.m., two times a week leading up to the AP Calculus exam.
“Between Mr. Hill’s AP Calculus BC and Mrs. Hill’s AP Calculus AB, we had the highest scoring classes on the AP exam in the state. The majority of us received a score of a 5, the highest score, and the remainder received 4’s.”
Ball recently earned a bachelor’s degree in health policy from Arts & Sciences.
