Last week, Bradford teacher Amy Stepanek received the Outstanding Role Model for Women Award from the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Onatrio (EFTO).
She was recognized by the Simcoe local for all the work she has done with supporting children in the community and providing support to the women in her union.
Stepanek said she was pleasantly surprised when she found out about the award.
“I had no idea ... I happened to be away that day (of the nomination),” she said.
“To me, that’s just part of my job."
Stepanek is a planning time teacher at Chris Hadfield Public School. Last year, she also taught physical education and a kindergarten literacy program.
She has been the chair of the Simcoe local for EFTO for the past 12 years.
Every year, Stepanek and her local sponsor six girls from Simcoe County to attend the Ontario Educational Leadership Centre (OELC) leadership camp in Orillia. The girls were at the camp this past week.
“This leadership camp is going to give them what they need to come back to their school to provide leadership to their classmates,” she explained.
Stepanek also developed an Earth Day project where 10 schools are eligible to receive $200 for participating in a school Earth Day-related project.
In addition to her work for the students, she also organizes many events for women in her union. For the past 10 years she has coordinated an International Women’s Day dinner where she invites a fellow female in her local to be a motivational guest speaker to speak on their experiences with an international event or activity that promotes women educators or social justice.
And if that didn’t keep her busy enough, she is also responsible for hosting five information sessions per year for her local members on pregnancy and parental and child care leave. She is also an active participant with her church group as well as the Scouts group in Bradford.
She is proud and honoured to be the recipient of this year’s award. She says she loves working and living in the Bradford community.
“Bradford is an awesome community and I love working here. I love how all the parents are involved in their children’s education,” she said.
