Trumbull High School teacher and We the People Coach Katie Boland wins Connecticut High School Teacher of the Year!
The award is presented annually by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History,an organization dedicated to K-12 American history education.
Since 2004, the award has been given to one teacher from each state, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense schools and US Territories. In fall 2017, the National History Teacher of the Year will be selected from the pool of state winners.
Boland has been teaching 15 years, the last seven at Trumbull High School. Before that, she taught history at Harding High School in Bridgeport.
At both schools, she coached a We the People: The Citizen & the Constitution team that competed against other teams on their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution. Her Trumbull team has regularly won state competitions and in 2017 placed 13th in the nation.
Boland also teaches advanced placement government courses. In 2001 she received her bachelor’s degree at College of the Holy Cross in History and Education and in 2009 she completed a master’s degree in American Studies from Fairfield University.
In addition to a $1,000 honorarium and an award ceremony Boland’s Trumbull School library will get a core archive of American history books and educational materials. Boland will also receive an invitation to a 2018 Gilder Lehrman Teacher Seminar, a weeklong program that offers teachers daily discussions with eminent historians, visits to historic sites, and hands-on work with primary sources.