IEC teacher recognised at Hume Teachers' Scholarships awards ceremony
17 November 2011
Michelle (fourth from left) is pictured with Councillor Burhan Yigit, Mayor Councillor Helen Patsikatheodorou, last year's winner Mehmet Tevfik Kerimoglu, runner-up Sally Erpolat and winner Fahriye Yilmaz of the Open Category
Kangan Institute's community services teacher Michelle Bennett-Galea has received the Hume City Council's Teachers' Scholarship prize money of $500 as a runner-up in the Open Category.
Held at Hume Global Learning Centre on Thursday 3rd November 2011, the awards ceremony honoured and recognised Hume City's inspiring teachers who were nominated by students or colleagues.
As a teacher of Certificate III and IV in Community Services Work at Kangan Institute's Indigenous Education Centre (IEC), Michelle was recognised for her dedication in going above and beyond to help her students reach their fullest potential.
She achieves this by regularly establishing links with employers to create work experience opportunities for her students, ensuring that they maximise their learning experience with practical skills.
IEC's Senior Educator Arnel Davis nominated Michelle for her ability to work with various students' unique learning needs and to build up a good rapport with them.
"Michelle is always improving herself and striving to do better. She has successfully developed a unique relationship with her students and has created a safe and nurturing learning environment for Indigenous learners," he said.
Michelle has been teaching for four years and hopes to continue helping her students gain the skills and confidence to achieve their fullest potential.
"It is great to be acknowledged and rewarded for the hard work that we put into our teaching and our learners at the IEC," she said.
"Teaching for me is about making a positive difference in someone's life by helping them create opportunities and pathways towards their aspirations. It's extremely rewarding to see learners believe in themselves and start exploring possibilities they've never had before."
Michelle will be putting the scholarship prize money towards classroom resources to benefit students, as well as professional development opportunities.
