St. Thomas alumnus Opal Ehalt recently won FOX 9’s Teacher of the Year award, one of nine teachers awarded annually.

According to Fox 9, the FOX 9 Top Nine Teachers awarded on April 24 received $900 from Control Credit Union for classroom supplies, a Subway sandwich party for 100 friends and a crystal apple.

Ehalt continued to teach at Broadway High School in Minneapolis, and earned her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from St. Thomas in 2005.

After 14 years of working at Broadway High School, Ehalt said she was thrilled to receive this award. Her colleague Teah Johnson recommended her to be Teacher of the Year. In her letter of recommendation, Johnson wrote, “Opal has devoted herself to Broadway and the Minneapolis Public Schools TAPP Program (Teenage Pregnancy and Parenting), making her a cornerstone of the school and a leader in the district.”

“It’s really fun to receive this big award after all these years of working,” Ehalt said. “The students have been really excited for this recognition too because I think they feel like it’s a part of them too, and they work really hard.”

According to the school’s website, Broadway High School is a community school for pregnant and parenting students and their children. Its mission is to be committed to the development of each student.

“When a girl gets pregnant … her life has typically been in chaos,” Ehalt said. “Then all of the sudden, they become so motivated to have a better life, so you’re not only impacting just this girl, but her child as well. You get this double reward.”

Ehalt said her background at St. Thomas gave her the education she needed to excel as a teacher.

“I know that St. Thomas is highly recognized, and I felt that it was going to be a quality education,” Ehalt said. “I had taken some classes at other colleges, which will remain unnamed, but I just didn’t feel like they were challenging and applicable.”

Like Ehalt, senior Brian Parkhurst said he also has had an overall positive experience with the St. Thomas’ education department.

“The greatest thing the education department at St. Thomas does for its students comes outside of classroom learning,” Parkhurst said. “Teacher education students are required to three field experiences during which they spend 30 and sometimes 100 hours in classrooms at local schools.”

While going to school at St. Thomas, Ehalt said her class with professor Chien-Tzu Candace Chou that helped contribute to her successful teaching career.

“The class was really about using technology, being creative and thinking outside the box,” Ehalt said. “I don’t think you really get that from a college a lot, the creative thinking. I think that really impacted me a lot.”

Chou said one of the best things about St. Thomas’ education department is that its instructors care about their students, and compromise their instruction based on their students’ own needs.

“I had her in class years ago, but I remember her fondly,” Chou said. “She was always looking for ways to enrich her classroom and to grow as a student.”

According to Ehalt, it’s all about differentiating curriculum at Broadway High School. The students are very diverse and it’s important to the teachers to be compassionate about what their individual needs are.

“In some of the classes that I took at the University of St. Thomas, we learned about diverse learners, and I learned a lot about dealing with diverse students and where they’re at,” Ehalt said. “I think a reason why I’m successful is because of what I learned. I can understand where my students are coming from.”

Chou remembers Ehalt as an inspiration to her classmates.

“She always had a passion for her students and always cared for others first,” Chou said.

Anne Becken can be reached at beck9626@stthomas.edu.