The Vermont Humanities Council has named Burr and Burton Academy teacher Sigourney “Sunny” Wright as its 2015 humanities educator of the year.
VHC honored Wright with the thirteenth Victor R. Swenson Humanities Educator Award on November 14, this morning at UVM’s Dudley H. Davis Center at VHC’s fall conference, “Why Do Stories Matter?” VHC Board Chair Major Jackson presented the award to Wright in the Grand Maple Ballroom, along with a $1,000 check.
“Many of us remember one or more special teachers we had in school who challenged and inspired us in important, formative ways,” said VHC Executive Director Peter Gilbert. “Vermont Humanities Council is pleased to honor, every year, a humanities teacher who makes such a profound difference to students. Great teachers are civic heroes. By recognizing a teacher with this award, we also pay tribute to the important work being done by all the fine educators in Vermont.”
A teacher at Burr and Burton since 1999 and at several other schools in the Manchester region in prior years, Wright has taught across the English and Social Studies curriculum. During her career she has earned a reputation for bringing passion to her teaching and a strong devotion to her students, particularly in reading and writing instruction.
“Sunny cares deeply about students and is wholly invested in making our school better,” said Burr and Burton’s Academic Dean Jen Hyatt. “She is a model Humanities teacher, an amazing human being, and a Vermont educator most worthy of recognition.”
Wright’s broad involvement in Burr and Burton’s curriculum has included teaching every English and Social Studies core course in grades 9–12, an integrated freshman Humanities class, and many electives she designed, such as creative writing, journalism, and Holocaust Studies. Also, Hyatt pointed out Wright’s tenacity “in seeking out and attaining impressive guest speakers for class and whole-school enrichment,” including a Holocaust survivor, a judge on a Bosnian international criminal tribunal, a Shakespearean actor, and a world-class poet.
Outside the classroom, Wright has directed plays, led the student government, managed production of the school literary magazine, and helped develop a student newspaper. The first faculty member to receive the school’s prestigious Rowland Sabbatical travel grant, Wright ventured abroad five years ago to South Africa, where she taught journalism and made connections that continue to inform her teaching at Burr and Burton.
Recently, Wright has worked on establishing Burr and Burton’s first writing center, and will be teaching a dual enrollment college-level writing course in collaboration with the National Writing Project and the University of Vermont to train students as writing mentors. “[This] is yet another example of how Sunny makes Burr and Burton a great place to work and study,” Hyatt said.
VHC created the Swenson Award in 2003 to recognize a Vermont educator on an annual basis and to honor Victor R. Swenson, the Council’s first executive director. The award is given to a Vermont educator in grades 6 through 12 who exemplifies excellence in the teaching of the humanities.
The Vermont Humanities Council is a private nonprofit working to bring the power and the pleasure of the humanities to all Vermonters—of every background and in every community. The Council strives to make Vermont a state in which every individual reads, participates in public affairs, and continues to learn throughout life.