Milwaukee Public Schools
Press Release

MPS history teacher wins state Teacher of the Year award, nominated for national award

Reagan's Margaret Holtgreive wins honor from National History Day organization

By - May 4th, 2016 04:05 am
Reagan teacher Margaret Holtgreive with student Julia Brunson. Photo courtesy of MPS.

Reagan teacher Margaret Holtgreive with student Julia Brunson. Photo courtesy of MPS.

MILWAUKEE (May 4, 2016) – Margaret Holtgreive, a teacher at Milwaukee Public SchoolsRonald Reagan College Preparatory High School, is the Wisconsin high school winner of National History Day’s Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award.

The award recognizes teachers for “outstanding creativity, commitment and inspiration in developing student interest in history education.”

Now Holtgreive is in the running for the National Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award.

The national award is given to one grade 6-8 teacher and one grade 9-12 teacher who has shown according to the National History Day organization.

The state honor comes with a $500 prize and national winners earn $10,000 to recognize “their outstanding efforts to encourage and support history education.”

Teachers can be nominated for the awards by their administrators, peers — or they can apply themselves. To qualify, teachers must participate in the National History Day Contest and demonstrate excellence in the classroom. Winners are chosen by a team of teachers, administrators and historians. “Their work must clearly illustrate the development and use of creative teaching methods that interest students in history and help them make exciting discoveries about the past,” the organization notes.

“It’s a great honor to be recognized by an organization that’s providing such a strong, project-based educational opportunity for students,” Holtgreive said. “National History Day brings history to life for our students.”

The Reagan teacher has participated in National History Day programs that have created opportunities for students including a trip for student Julia Brunson and Holtgreive to travel to Normandy, France to research a local service member who lost his life during World War II.

Holtgreive was nominated by Sarah Fallon, the state coordinator for National History Day at the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison, who called Holtgreive “one of the most dedicated teachers I have the pleasure of working with in our state.”

Reagan Principal Mike Roemer, MPS Superintendent Dr. Darienne Driver and the entire MPS family congratulate Ms. Holtgreive on this outstanding accomplishment!

National awards will be announced June 16 at the Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest in College Park, Md.

About National History Day:

NHD is a non-profit education organization in College Park, Md. Established in 1974, NHD offers year-long academic programs that engage over half a million middle- and high-school students around the world annually in conducting original research on historical topics of interest. These research-based projects are entered into contests at the local and affiliate levels, where the top student projects have the opportunity to advance to the National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park. NHD also seeks to improve the quality of history education by providing professional development opportunities and curriculum materials for educators. NHD is sponsored in part May 3, 2016 by Kenneth E. Behring, Patricia Behring, HISTORY®, Jostens, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Park Service, Southwest Airlines, the Joe Weider Foundation, and the WEM 2000 Foundation of the Dorsey & Whitney Foundation.  For more information, visit nhd.org.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.

Recent Press Releases by Milwaukee Public Schools

Registration opens March 4 for MPS Summer Academy

Summer Classes and Activities to Inspire Learning Take Place in June and July at Select Schools around Milwaukee

M-Cubed Announces Milwaukee Direct Admit Program to Increase College Access

MPS students will be able to apply to both MATC and UWM through one online form at no cost

MPS Kindergarten Enrollment Fair is February 3 at South Division

Children Who Will Be 3, 4, or 5 Years Old by September 1 Can Be Enrolled; Staff from More Than 100 Schools Will Be on Hand

Leave a Reply

You must be an Urban Milwaukee member to leave a comment. Membership, which includes a host of perks, including an ad-free website, tickets to marquee events like Summerfest, the Wisconsin State Fair and the Florentine Opera, a better photo browser and access to members-only, behind-the-scenes tours, starts at $9/month. Learn more.

Join now and cancel anytime.

If you are an existing member, sign-in to leave a comment.

Have questions? Need to report an error? Contact Us