Cathryn Belt South Bend, IN | K-6, Science, 2022

The official biography below was current at the time of the award.

Cathryn Belt has been a teacher for 20 years, with the entirety of her teaching career at Kennedy Academy. Last year was her first year as the STEAM Facilitator in the school, teaching STEAM concepts to kindergarten through fifth graders. She previously taught one year of second grade and 16 consecutive years of kindergarten. In her classroom, Cathryn utilizes student-led learning when covering STEAM topics. Students explore topics of interest within the scope of the STEAM standard and Cathryn facilitates their work by teaching and providing materials for their learning. She provides various ways for students to demonstrate their learning, ranging from recycling materials such as cardboard and plastic bottles to different types of technology such as 3D printers and Flipgrid. Cathryn was part of the STEAM leadership committee in 2017 at Kennedy Academy, writing STEAM curriculum for her school and assisting in applying for Indiana STEM School Certification. The school was awarded certification in 2018 and is currently up for recertification. Cathryn has mentored student teachers and first-year teachers, is a VEX Robotics coach and is the National Education Association representative in her building. She has also presented at EdTech in the Bend in 2020, helping teachers with ways to make distance learning successful for their students. Cathryn was awarded Teacher of the Year at Kennedy Academy in 2016 and was part of the Honors Group for the South Bend Community School Corporation in the same year. Cathryn earned a B.A. in elementary education from Saint Mary's College and is certified in kindergarten through sixth grade.

• High-resolution version of the teacher profile photograph

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