2011 SCHILDERINK FAMILY FACULTY CHAIR FOR DISTINGUISHED TEACHING
Rosie Alway
Every day, models of integrity, perseverance and tolerance walk off the pages of classics into Rosie Sansalone Alway’s classroom. Her Middle School students not only learn how to use the English language effectively but they explore the essential elements of fine human character. Atticus Finch models integrity in To Kill a Mockingbird. Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel illustrates perseverance. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince shows the importance of tolerance.
The Summit Writers’ Project and Knights’ Tales: The Summit Writers’ Project. In 2010, she was named an Alfred Lerner Fellow by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous and joined nine other educators from around the country on a 10-day exploration of Holocaust historical sites in Poland and Germany. Growing up in Cincinnati, Mrs. Alway has a Summit heritage even though she graduated from Sycamore High School. Two of her sisters attended The Summit and an aunt, Sister Stella Marie, was a high school math teacher here. She and her husband, John, have sent all three of their children here. Alex ’08 attends Acadia University in Nova Scotia, and Maria ’09 attends The School of Art Institute of Chicago. Catherine is a 5th grader.
“The most important aspect of human interaction is seeing with your heart instead of your eye,” says Mrs. Alway, the winner of this year’s Schilderink Family Faculty Chair for Distinguished Teaching. “If you can obtain that quality, you avoid the tendency of all human beings to judge on first sight.”
Joining the ranks of Schilderink Chair Award winners was “an overwhelming honor,” says Mrs. Alway, because many recipients are the same teachers who inspired her to become a teacher. “I met Carole Fultz when I was a little girl because she taught my sister. I was so impressed with her that I said I wanted to be like her. I love The Summit. I love what it’s done for my children. Anything I can give back is miniscule compared to what it’s given my family.”
Her message seems to resonate. “Mrs. Alway has inspired me not only as a student, but as a person,” says rising 9th grader Emily Wiser. “She pushes me every day in the classroom to be the best student I can be, but the most important lesson I have learned from her is to see others with my heart rather than my eyes and to make judgments based on character.” Among the many people who nominated Mrs. Alway for the Schilderink award were Emily’s parents, David and Elizabeth Moore Wiser. The Wisers say Mrs. Alway essentially is teaching critical-thinking skills – to analyze, interpret information, develop a point of view and support that view. “She is a rare talent and a treasure at The Summit,” they say. Skip Lynam, who stepped down as Middle School Director at the end of the year, says: “She is a master teacher who has honed her skills to the highest performance level.”
Wendy Grimes says Mrs. Alway has given back plenty. She credits Mrs. Alway with helping her daughter, Clare Taylor, now a sophomore, become self-confident, a better writer and a happier person. “That could only happen with one of those once-in-lifetime teachers you are so lucky to get – that changes the way you learn, the way you care, and the way you strive for excellence,” she says. “That is what this teacher does every single day of her life. She gives all 40 hours of her day and 190 percent of herself. And I feel so fortunate and so thankful every day.”
Mrs. Alway has been at The Summit for five of her 14 years of teaching. She teaches 8th and 9th grade English, leads the Power of the Pen team – hosting district competitions, leads the 8th grade play, chaperones the 8th grade field trip to Washington D.C. and this year served on the Middle School Director Search Committee. She has worked with another teacher to publish two student-written books – Faded Secrets: 19
—Nancy Berlier