Ink chosen as Outstanding Educator

Janet Ink of New Riegel Local School District was selected for this year's Outstanding Educator Award. She received recognition during the Educators Appreciation Breakfast Thursday morning. More than 200 people attended the annual breakfast hosted by Seneca Regional Chamber of Commerce at Tiffin University's Marion Center to celebrate the start of the school year and to welcome new educators to Seneca County. Going into her 39th year of teaching, Ink has dedicated time to her students and is continuously finding new ways to make improvements within her classroom to make it a better place, according to information from the chamber. In her 35 years at New Riegel, the New Riegel graduate has assisted in the start of implementing hands-on learning and activity stations. She continues to find and purchase new education games and incorporates them into her lessons as well as loaning them to anyone who wants to take them home and show their parents what they have learned throughout the school year and during the summer. The longtime third-grade teacher has implemented multi-faceted learning. One example is establishing the annual Thanksgiving play where her students learn about the origin of Thanksgiving and perform the play in front of the entire elementary. Another example is the annual presidential wax museum in which students research one of the 46 U.S. presidents and dedicate a day to putting on a living wax museum where the student body and community visit and allow students to showcase something they've learned through their research. The chamber release said the Outstanding Educator Award is presented to an educator who has exemplified vision, leadership qualities and commitment to the improvement of education. The award serves to recognize and honor outstanding achievement in the field of education, inspire the recipients to embrace the qualities and characteristics required to advance the education profession and encourage other educators to aspire to make a difference in the education of youth to shape a better future.