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NVTHS is Territories History Teacher of the Year

Rosalee Osana Tela-Shoulders [courtesy photo]
Source: Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Rosalee Osana Tela-Shoulders, a teacher at Nu’uuli Vocational Technical High School, has been named the 2017 U.S. Territories History Teacher of the Year, an award presented annually by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to K-12 American history education.

Inaugurated in 2004, the History Teacher of the Year Award highlights the crucial importance of history education by honoring exceptional American history teachers from elementary school through high school. The award honors one K-12 teacher from each state, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense schools and US Territories. In fall 2017, the National History Teacher of the Year will be selected from the pool of state winners.

In 2012 Shoulders received her bachelor’s degree, and then in 2015 received her master’s degree, both from University of Hawaii-Manoa studying education and how to excel in her teaching profession. Rosalee is the Social Studies department head for Nuuuli Vocational Technical High School. Her passion for history resonates through the environment of her classroom and her relentless efforts of integrating technology with history to provide her students with exposure that they need to grasp community issues, and exploring historical documents, events and people. When students leave her classroom they have not only learn valuable information, they have become engaged and informed citizens.

In addition to a $1,000 honorarium and an award ceremony in American Samoa, Rosalee Osana Tela-Shoulders’ school library will receive a core archive of American history books and Gilder Lehrman educational materials. Rosalee Osana Tela Shoulders will also receive an invitation to a 2018 Gilder Lehrman Teacher Seminar, a weeklong program that offers teachers daily discussions with eminent historians, visits to historic sites, and hands-on work with primary sources.

The National History Teacher of the Year award will be presented by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Eric Foner at a ceremony in New York City on November 8, 2017. Past presenters at the ceremony include the Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor, Good Morning America's Robin Roberts, First Lady Laura Bush, former US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Nominations for the 2018 History Teacher of the Year awards are now open. Students, parents, colleagues, and supervisors may nominate K-12 teachers for the award by visiting gilderlehrman.org/nhtoy. The deadline for 2018 nominations is March 30, 2018.

About the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Founded in 1994 by philanthropists Richard Gilder and Lewis E. Lehrman, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is the nation’s leading organization dedicated to K-12 American history education. The Institute’s mission is to promote the knowledge and understanding of American history through educational programs and resources. Drawing on the 65,000 documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection and an extensive network of eminent historians, the Institute provides teachers, students, and the general public with direct access to unique primary source materials. The Institute’s programs have been recognized by awards from the White House, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Organization of American Historians.