Marv Luddington, Education and Career Advocate, Davis School District
Marvin brings years of past experience as a Youth in Care teacher to his new role as an Education and Career advocate at the Renaissance Academy Farmington Bay Youth Center, where he helps students with transition planning. His colleague writes, “Marv is a Champion because he really cares and works hard to find out each student’s next step. The sky is the limit for Youth in Care students if we can help them see their own vision—and Marv works to do just that.”
Spencer Robinson
Youth in Care Teacher, Davis School District
Spencer helps his students take aim at the future through mindfulness-building experiences such as the archery program for the Renaissance Academy Main Campus Youth in Care program. Through hand-on activities, students learn important lessons, such as persistence and inner focus, that can help them in all areas of life, including academics. “Through Spencer’s efforts, students become more in tune with where they are going and the effects of their decisions,” a colleague writes. “He truly cares about students.”
SALT LAKE CITY (May 12, 2017) – The Utah Education Network (UEN) today announces the recognition of Utah’s American Graduate Champions working with Youth in Care (YIC). These educators have been nominated by their peers for their dedication to helping youth overcome challenging circumstances and reach academic milestones: Abe Kimball, Cindy Willis, Danelle Black, Jacqueline Bode, Jared Tucker, Jim Hawkes, Jodie Horgan, Leona Schexnayder, Marvin Hull, Marv Luddington, Melanie Bliss, Mitch Peterson, Nikki Sorensen, Rebecca Jackson, Sharon Hall, Sheri Bradshaw, Sombryn Williams, Spencer Robinson, Tim Marriott and Virginia Parry. Individual profiles of Utah’s 2017 American Graduate Champions can be viewed here.
With more than one in four Utah children encountering the Juvenile Justice System before their eighteenth birthday, too many youth face difficult circumstances that disrupt their education. To bring awareness to the issues, UEN will air the documentary “The One That Got Away” by Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmakers John Block and Steve McCarthy on UEN-TV Tuesday, May 16 at 9 p.m. MT and Saturday, June 10 at 8 p.m. MT. To view UEN-TV’s complete programming schedule visit http://www.uen.org/tv/.
“The One That Got Away” explores challenges faced by at-risk youth through the story of a bright-eyed, promising junior high school student, Tourrie Moses. Eager to learn and the kind of student every teacher wants, Tourrie was considered by his teachers to be destined for a top college. Moses’ life however, takes a radically different path. Unfolding through interviews with Tourrie himself, his family, teachers, and classmates, each interview reveals how the intertwined forces of home life, school life and street life can negatively impact a child, particularly one living in impoverished conditions. To view the documentary trailer, click here.
UEN is also screening the documentary on May 11th and 12th during the 38th Annual Conference of Agencies and Organizations Serving Promising Youth in Snowbird, Utah, at which certificates of recognition will be presented to the new American Graduate Champions.
“Recognizing these educators is important,” says Steven Kaelin, Education Specialist for Alternative, Adult Education and GED Testing Services for the Utah State Board of Education. “The level of dedication, commitment and concern of these educators for students that struggle with overwhelming obstacles in their lives is truly inspirational and exemplary. For many of our students, YIC teachers provide the everyday hope that helps these youth rise above dire and defeating circumstances in life.”
Funding for The One That Got Away is provided by the JPB Foundation and the Ford Foundation as part of Chasing the Dream: Poverty and Opportunity in America; and the John and Rose Cali Family Foundation; New Jersey Education Association; Silver Family Foundation, Montclair, N.J.; and others. The film is part of WNET’s initiative Chasing the Dream: Poverty and Opportunity in America, which provides critical programming on poverty, income equality, and opportunity.
The Utah Education Network
The Utah Education Network (UEN) is part of the Utah Education and Telehealth Network (UETN), a nationally recognized innovator in broadband and broadcast delivery of educational and telehealth resources to students and educators, patients and clinicians statewide. UETN provides network, application and support services to more than 1,000 schools, colleges and libraries. It also serves more than 70 hospitals, clinics and health departments in urban, suburban and rural areas of the state.
