Honoring Teachers X 2
Now that school is out for the summer, just about everywhere, we want to share two unique opportunities Zo Much More recently had to honor teachers.
The first was for the teachers in our district who received awards from SEPAC - the Special Education Parents Advisory Council. Every year, families have the opportunities to recognize staff and educators who have made an exceptional difference in the lives of one or more students who access special education services/supports. It’s a fairly rigorous process to nominate and each family is limited to one nomination per year. When you factor in that Needham is lucky to have so many deserving candidates, it’s clear that those who are selected have made truly remarkable contributions. The winners are provided certificates, recognized in front of their peers and the nomination write-ups about them are shared publicly. This year, Zo Much More was thrilled to have the opportunity to design and donate a bracelet to be included with the award certificate for each SEPAC Award winner. And recognizing that maybe not everyone would want a bracelet - and that teachers are among the population who still have a ton of physical keys - we threw in a key ring for a key chain option as well. The design of the bracelet was inspired by the colors of the Needham SEPAC website which designer Hilary Bruel had created several years ago to be a sunny, optimistic play on Needham’s traditional Blue & Gold. Zoe added the academic year and a gold star as a traditional symbol of excellence associated with teachers.
The second was an opportunity to help a longtime member of Team Zoe recognize the teachers in her own children’s lives. Catherine and Zoe go WAY back. Catherine has basically been one of those people in Zoe’s life that we could call on when we needed just about anything - gymnastics instructor, Track 1:1, babysitter, Assistive Technology Specialist, etc. and now we can add Collaborator to the list. Since her sons are pre-school age, Catherine suggested Zoe create something with lots of bright colors and the word INSPIRE. Zo Much More was thrilled to be able to ship these to Catherine in upstate NY to thank the teachers who work with her children.