吃瓜tv Graduate and Alumni Association Board Member Meghan Rakus 鈥19, M鈥22 Hatches Award-Winning Lesson; Grows Love of Learning
At 11 p.m. on a spring evening in 2023, the teacher app on Meghan Rakus鈥 (鈥19, M鈥22) phone started receiving messages. 鈥淭he chicks are hatching!鈥 Parents of the 吃瓜tv graduate鈥檚 first-grade students at Saint Mary Interparochial School (SMIPS), a 2023 and 2016 National Blue-Ribbon School of Excellence located in the historic district of Philadelphia, were reaching out with the same excitement as their six-year-old children. Thanks to a livestream set up as a way to engage families, parents were able to share in the school鈥檚 annual egg hatching science lesson, which Rakus has bolstered over the last five years. The lesson, in fact, recently earned the Northeast Philadelphia native recognition as one of five 鈥渙utstanding teachers honored for their innovation, creativity, and commitment to the students they serve鈥 by FACTS, a Nelnet school management company. Rakus鈥 distinction, from among more than 100 applicants nationwide, included a $5,000 honorarium, a $1,000 donation to SMIPS, and a free trip to the Elevate 2024 conference in Atlanta, Ga., in June 2024, where she will present her innovative concept to the FACTS community.