Teacher of the Year Juliana Urtubey spreads her passion nationally

“A beauteous responsibility.”

That’s however Clark County School District peculiar acquisition teacher Juliana Urtubey describes her relation arsenic National Teacher of the Year, an grant bestowed upon her successful May.

She has a paid twelvemonth disconnected from teaching, funded by the authorities and Clark County School District, and since July has been doing acquisition advocacy enactment arranged by the Council of Chief State School Officers.

“I perfectly emotion traveling and getting a accidental to link with teachers crossed the country,” she said successful a speech successful mid-November.

The Teacher of the Year grant was followed by an adjacent rarer designation for a teacher.

Urtubey was recognized connected Dec. 1 arsenic 1 of People magazine’s “2021 People of the Year” honorees, representing each the nation’s teachers.

“I americium truthful arrogant to person the accidental to correspond teachers arsenic 1 of People magazine’s People of the Year,” she said successful a connection to the Review-Journal. “I’ve been honored to perceive from teachers crossed the state who are taking this arsenic a overmuch deserved solemnisation of their ain enactment successful specified a challenging year.”

Urtubey, a 35-year-old learning strategist and peculiar acquisition teacher astatine Booker Elementary School successful Las Vegas’ Historic Westside, has taught successful the Clark County School District since 2013. She’s the archetypal Nevada teacher to person the nationalist honor.

Building bridges

She describes her relation arsenic a typical of teachers astir the federation and a span betwixt policymakers and educators.

The National Teacher of the Year programme is successful its 69th year, and is the oldest and astir prestigious teacher designation programme successful the country, said Sarah Brown Wessling, elder advisor to program.

Wessling, who was National Teacher of the Year successful 2010, said the idiosyncratic is fundamentally an ambassador for education.

There’s thing that makes each twelvemonth successful the programme different, she said. For her, Common Core State Standards were released during the twelvemonth she served and became a focus.

“One of the things that doesn’t alteration is the unthinkable passionateness that the National Teacher of the Year has for their enactment and however they stock that with others,” Wessling said.

Urtubey said the acquisition of being National Teacher of the Year has been “so beautiful.” One of the highlights was a White House ceremonial successful October for the Teachers of the Year for 2020 and 2021, since the pandemic canceled plans for a ceremonial past year.

“It was a large designation of teachers and their efforts,” Urtubey said.

She said she has besides enjoyed connecting with U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

Urtubey’s advocacy enactment and speaking started disconnected mostly arsenic virtual engagements owed to the COVID-19 pandemic, but present includes much in-person events.

Fighting for amended moving conditions

Urtubey said determination are similarities teachers look each implicit the country. “I think, overall, teachers are truly focused connected advocating for amended moving conditions,” she said.

Urtubey said she’s gaining caller insights into acquisition successful different parts of the country, noting she peculiarly enjoys learning astir schools successful agrarian and Native American communities.

And she has connected with educators successful U.S. territories specified arsenic Guam and the Virgin Islands, which she said was “really informative.”

Urtubey was calved successful Bogota, Colombia, and raised successful Phoenix. She earned a bachelor’s grade successful bilingual wide acquisition and a master’s grade successful bilingual peculiar acquisition from the University of Arizona.

She has National Board Certification arsenic a teacher. She besides received a Heart of Education Award successful 2018 from The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

Before moving to Booker Elementary, Urtubey spent 7 years arsenic a peculiar acquisition teacher astatine Crestwood Elementary School successful cardinal Las Vegas, wherever she led an effort to make an outdoor schoolroom garden.

Wessling said she’s amazed by the mode Urtubey builds assemblage not lone wrong her classroom, but brings the assemblage in.

“I consciousness similar the walls betwixt those truly dissolve for Juliana,” she said.

Wessling traveled to immoderate events with Urtubey this autumn and watched her interact with audiences — whether educators, policymakers, parents oregon assemblage members.

“She has this unthinkable quality to bring you into a classroom,” Wessling said, adding you consciousness similar you’re being transported into a abstraction wherever you privation your ain children could learn.

Urtubey helps radical recognize what effectual teaching and learning looks like, and “then she tells you however to bash it,” Wessling said.

Urtubey, who spoke with the Review-Journal successful aft a two-and-a-half-week tour, has lately been racking up predominant flyer miles, having traveled to places similar a Council of Chief State School Officers argumentation forum successful Florida; Council of Administrators of Special Education league successful Little Rock, Arkansas; and the Nevada Association of School Boards league astatine Lake Tahoe.

Closer to home, Urtubey said she enjoyed a Southern Nevada luncheon for retiring teachers successful October.

Staying successful touch

Despite traveling astir the state this schoolhouse year, Urtubey looks to enactment connected with Booker Elementary and her erstwhile students from Crestwood Elementary. She inactive talks with students’ families and sees them astir her neighborhood.

“I miss my students and my schoolhouse communities each azygous day,” she said.

Urtubey was handing retired Halloween candy astatine location successful precocious October erstwhile a radical of precocious schoolhouse boys came by trick-or-treating.

One of them greeted her, saying, “Oh, it that you, Ms. Earth?” — her nickname portion starring outdoor plot efforts astatine Crestwood Elementary — but she couldn’t admit him since helium was wearing a mask.

Once helium took it off, she recognized him arsenic 1 of her erstwhile students, who identified himself arsenic “your plot gnomie.”

“It was a truly saccharine infinitesimal that helium inactive considers himself a ‘gnomie,’” she said.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com oregon 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton connected Twitter.