A Cal Poly graduate received one of the highest educational honors in the country last week when she was named the 62nd National Teacher of the Year.
Rebecca Mieliwocki, who studied as an undergraduate in Cal Poly’s communication studies department in the late ’80s and early ’90s, before receiving her teaching credential from California State University, Northridge, met President Barack Obama on April 23 for the announcement of her selection as this year’s top teacher.
Mieliwocki, who teaches seventh grade English at Luther Burbank Middle School in Burbank, said she believes she was recognized for her commitment to making sure her students are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need, as well as her work to involve students by letting them direct projects and use tools such as social media to learn, she said.
“I know that my most important job is to make sure kids have what they need to be successful,” Mieliwocki said.
Mieliwocki also tries to develop a sense of how each student is unique, she said. She prefers to educate students on their terms, Mieliwocki said.
“I see who they are as unique individuals,” Mieliwocki said.
The Cal Poly grad was first nominated as her district’s Teacher of the Year almost a year ago, and then nominated for county Teacher of the Year. Each time, Mieliwocki had to write essays on her own teaching philosophy and ideas.
“It was kind of a full summer,” Mieliwocki said.
She continued earning bigger awards until she was named one of four finalists for the National Teacher of the Year award, and traveled to Washington, D.C. for a week of interviews.
When Mieliwocki was finally selected, she had to keep the news under wraps.
“I had to keep it a secret for about a month-and-a-half,” Mieliwocki said.
Her award was announced last week at the White House, where she met with Obama.
The experience was a thrill not only because she was honored to have her work recognized, but because she was able to meet the president, whom she greatly admires, Mieliwocki said.
“He was thoroughly human, genuine, kind, not in a hurry,” Mieliwocki said.
The visiting teachers even discussed having Obama’s daughter, Malia, babysit their children so they could spend an evening seeing Washington, D.C., Mieliwocki said.
The experience was surreal, she said.
“I just was a fly on the wall of such normalcy, and yet, I was in the Blue Room of the White House,” Mieliwocki said.
Mieliwocki’s achievement reflects well on her alma mater, but in the end she deserves all the credit, communication studies professor Bernard Duffy said. Duffy taught at Cal Poly when Mieliwocki was a student.
“People’s accomplishments are their own accomplishments,” Duffy said.
It’s rewarding to see a former student doing well, he said.
“I’m sure it was the entire Cal Poly experience that helped her,” he said. “We’re delighted.”
Communication studies department chair T.C. Winebrenner, who also taught at Cal Poly when Mieliwocki was an undergraduate, said the award is also a credit to the university’s strength.
“Obviously in some ways it celebrates what it is that she learned not only in our major, but what she learned in Cal Poly as an institution,” Winebrenner said.
When Mieliwocki’s reception of the California Teacher of the Year award was announced, Winebrenner immediately looked her up in a database of Cal Poly graduates, he said. Though it was 20 years ago, Winebrenner remembers that she was a good student, he said.
“It certainly feels nice for it to be one of our graduates,” Winebrenner said.
Mieliwocki herself credits Cal Poly with teaching her the value of high standards. Her favorite class was one in which she received only a “C,” she said, but a “C” she worked extremely hard for.
“When I got it, I was so proud it was as if I got an ‘A+,’” Mieliwocki said.
Mieliwocki’s speech degree is also helping her as she prepares to go on an international, yearlong tour of talks on her teaching philosophy, she said.
“That speech degree is coming in handy now,” Mieliwocki said.