(Roxhill librarian Pat Bliquez, visiting China in 2007, photo from school website)
Roxhill Elementary School principal Carmela Dellino sends word of a big honor for a member of her team:

Roxhill Elementary is proud to announce that our librarian, Pat Bliquez, has been selected as one of the seven 19th Annual Golden Apple Award winners for Excellence in Teaching in Washington State!
http://kcts9.org/kids/golden-apple-awards

This year almost 200 educators from across the state were nominated for this award. This award was the idea of the Golden Apple founder Martin J. (Mike) Koldyke, who felt that excellent teachers did not receive adequate recognition for their contributions to building a stronger, better-educated society. Pat will be officially recognized during January at the Awards Banquet, but we will be honoring her at Roxhill later this month. …

Pat is 1000% dedicated to all students’ success. She is acutely aware of how to help Roxhill students become the best global citizens that they can become. She imbeds this instruction into her daily lessons for every grade level. She includes – truly and authentically – includes our self-contained Autism students, our Head Start students, our developmental preschool students, our transitional kindergarten students, as well as our general education students into this kind of learning.

She has devoted millions of hours (I can tell you that is NO exaggeration) to helping the lives and learning of students. Ms. Bliquez believes AND LIVES on a daily basis the importance that every student can excel at a very high level. She reaches those students who struggle academically and those who academically far exceed their peers. She brings in a global perspective to her lessons. Our students learn about Chinese characters and culture, the Holocaust, about slavery through the text of Elijah, Home of the Brave, and a myriad of other social justice topics.

And it doesn’t stop there. They say that a library is supposed to be the hub of a school. Our librarian IS the hub of our school. Learning centers around her work and efforts. She is the cog in the wheel. She goes out of her way to support every single teacher, support staff and the principal so that learning can be engaging, enriching, intentional and meaningful. Roxhill would not be the same without her.

She knows how to challenge thinking; push her own thinking; and help all of us grow (students and staff) as thinkers.

I could talk about the endless hours, the endless summer hours, the being the first to get here and sometimes the last to leave, but perhaps what resounds in my heart the most is the profound impact she makes on the intellectual, emotional, social and personal lives of every educator and student at Roxhill.

She IS the Golden Apple Award.

The principal says Roxhill head teacher Christopher Robert – himself a past Golden Apple recipient – nominated Pat Bliquez for the award. Congratulations to her and to Roxhill!