LUXEMBURG – Lauren Schumacher became the first teacher ever in the Luxemburg-Casco School District to be recognized with a Golden Apple Award as one of the outstanding educators in northeast Wisconsin.

Schumacher, a social studies teacher at Luxemburg-Casco High School, was given her 2022 Golden Apple on Feb. 23 by the Greater Green Bay Chamber, which sponsors and organizes the awards.

Also among the Golden Apple honorees whose school districts are at least partially in Kewaunee County is Mary Handrich, an agricultural education teacher at Denmark High School.

Now in its 29th year, Golden Apples are awarded every year to honor area teachers. Hundreds of nominations are narrowed down to finalists, then Teachers of Distinction, and from that group the top recipients receive Golden Apples. In all, seven teachers and one teaching team from the Green Bay area were honored this year.

Schumacher and Handrich will be recognized at a dinner and awards program April 20 at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center in Green Bay. The program will be recorded and broadcast at a later date on WLUK-TV Fox 11 and CW 14.

“We are excited to have our first Golden Apple winner. Lauren is very deserving,” L-C Superintendent Glenn Schlender said in a news release. “She is known within the district as being very innovative and also well liked by her students.”

Schumacher has taught at the high school since 2015, primarily U.S. History and Introduction to Psychology. She also coaches the Social Studies Academic Team and serves as a group leader for L-C Abroad student international trips.

She holds a bachelor's degree in history from St. Norbert College in De Pere and an master's degree in special education from Western Governors University in Utah.

“I truly find joy in spending time with these young adults and challenging them to examine and discuss complex issues, and getting to laugh with them daily," Schumacher said about her teaching philosophy. "I strive to make my classroom a place where all students can be themselves and feel excited and eager to learn, rather than pressured to learn.

“History is so totally enmeshed in our everyday lives that we can take it for granted. I try to help students see that anything that happens in our world is not a ‘random’ event but rather one that is the culmination of many others building up over time. History does have the ability to repeat itself, but by studying history we can prevent the worst from happening again.”

The L-C district also had one individual teacher and one teaching team honored as Teachers of Distinction as part of the selection process. They were Ryan Deprey of the Lakeshore Educational Alternative Program (LEAP) and the high school's English Learners team, consisting of Laura Hooker, Jodi Kinnard, Nicole Marinin, Karen Tineo and Crystal Trejo.

Contact Christopher Clough at 920-741-7952, 920-562-8900 or [email protected].

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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Luxemburg-Casco teacher wins school district's first Golden Apple Award; Denmark teacher also recognized