Three teachers from the Northern Sydney Institute’s Northern Beaches Campus were recognised by the Rotary Club of Belrose in early October.
Mark Stanek, Suzie Sumsky and Su Resende each received a Pride of Workmanship award for their outstanding contributions to teaching and education.
“These awards are very well deserved and highlight the expertise of our teachers,” said Ronda Collins, Northern Beaches Campus Manager.
Mr Stanek has been an exceptional teacher in Carpentry and Joinery for many years and a recent achievement was to engage a group of young students who were particularly struggling with the maths required to complete a trade qualification. He devised a unique and exciting learning experience involving the students in research, planning, safety considerations, material use, tool and finishing techniques to build a skateboard deck.
The project captured the students’ interest, which is so critical to effective learning, and they used mathematics every step of the way as it was embedded within each activity. It has been a huge success and this award recognises Mark’s learner centred, active learning approach and innovation.
Ms Sumsky has been a highly regarded teacher at Northern Beaches Campus in a number of sections including Information Technology, Business Administration and Adult Foundation Education. She was nominated for this award because of her work in Information Technology. She was instrumental in setting up a distance learning website for certificate III courses. Ms Sumsky has done a fantastic job on this project which is providing IT students with the opportunity to study flexibly.
Ms Resende is a teacher in Business Administration. With the Northern Beaches Campus now supervising the delivery at Hornsby Campus, Ms Resende was asked to coordinate the Flexible Learning Centres at both sites. She was selected because of her high-level organisational skills and extensive knowledge of systems. She has done an admirable job in ensuring the two centres work together and has put critical procedures in place.
“We congratulate them on their great achievements and receiving the Pride of Workmanship Awards,” Ms Collins said.