Surprise! Teacher Honored For ​“Life Changing” Work

“She pushes you to be your best self.” ​“She’s always positive.” ​“She makes school fun.” ​“Her good mood in the classroom influenced me to do better things outside class.”

Those words of praise and so much more were offered by Worthington Hooker parents and students on Friday as they shared testimony about this year’s ​“Life Changing Teaching” awardee and Hooker second grade teacher, Hilarie Alden.

Hooker School’s Whitney Avenue auditorium was filled with students, staff, district leaders, and family members, who all celebrated the impact that Alden has had on everyone in the school community who crosses her path. 

Friday’s award came with a $5,000 check from Honored Schools, a national nonprofit that recognizes exceptional teachers. 

Alden began her second career as a teacher in 2019 at Hooker. She was described by Principal Margaret-Mary Gethings as an enthusiastic and committed teacher who attends every school-wide function and is always willing to help and encourage her students to do their best. She is also the teaching lead for the school’s parent – teacher association (PTA).

“Mrs. Alden makes every day in the classroom joyful. It is not uncommon for her to put on a character costume from a book. She hosts dance parties in her classroom that she loves,” Gethings continued. 

This year, Alden’s classroom has students who speak more than 16 languages. She teaches her second graders to celebrate that linguistic, cultural, and national diversity. One of her favorite events this year was the school’s annual ​“We Are the World” celebration, an event uplifting the school community’s diversity and encouraging students to be proud of who they are. ​“It’s everything we want for our future and our students,” she said. 

Alden received the award during the school’s June ​“town meeting” on Friday. Instead of kicking off the assembly like usual with the school’s celebration of the latest students of the month, staff instead switched gears to surprise Alden with her award. 

New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Coordinator of Recruitment and Retention Sarah Diggs spearheaded the district’s teacher appreciation efforts in partnership with Honored Schools. She said the process began with ten school communities nominating teachers for the award. That included students, families, and staff submitting stories about the nominated teachers to help decide this year’s pick. A total of 1,400 student stories were submitted by the NHPS community, Diggs said. Local partners and community organizations helped Honored Schools to make the final decision to pick Alden as the winner for Friday. 

One parent testimony read on Friday said that Alden was the best teacher they’ve ever come across. Another said Alden created a ​“reading tool kit” for their student during the pandemic, that made reading fun and creative for the student. The kit included ​“a saw for breaking up words and a measuring tape for breaking up phonemic sounds,” the parent’s letter said. 

One student letter described Alden as the ​“best teacher in whole wide world” while another said they appreciate that she rewards them with ice cream when they get As in their classes. During the pandemic, another student letter, recalled Alden found creative ways to make remote learning fun, including by hosting a class snowball fight over Zoom. 

“She makes my day 100 times better just by saying hello,” one student said on stage at Friday’s celebration. Fourth grader Creed described Alden as ​“fun, kind, respectful” and concluded ​“she has my heart.”

During her remarks Friday, Alden thanked the district staff and Honored Schools for providing the platform to share gratitude for educators. She also thanked the district for listening to families and staff pleas over the past few months to get a school nurse for the school’s 3 – 8th grade Whitney Avenue building. ​“Thank you for hearing us and our voices,” she said. 

She gave special thanks to her husband and school administrators for their unwavering support since her start at Hooker. ​“Thank you for believing in me,” she said. 

She concluded that everyone in the room deserves the award because of their love for the students daily. She said she hopes to use the $5,000 award to take a family trip to California to visit her two youngest children, who her family only gets to see a few times a year. 

“I feel like I just won the Super Bowl,” Alden exclaimed Friday.