District 197 Teacher Receives $10,000 Outstanding Educator Award

For Ikhlas Abdelkhalig, a first grade teacher at Pilot Knob STEM Magnet School in Eagan, the news came out gradually Friday afternoon at an all-school assembly.

First she learned a Pilot Knob teacher was being honored, and then a first grade teacher. But the big news, the one Pilot Knob principal Tom Benson was busting to spill, caught her by surprise.

She was the winner of a WEM Foundation's 2011 Outstanding Educator Award for Teacher Achievement, along with a $10,000 cash prize.

"It's kind of like ... so touching, you just don't know what to say," said Abdelkhalig. "When you think about your students, and the journey I have been having with my students, and how they work hard and all of that ... and it is really reflected in the students.

"So, it was a big surprise," she added. "But at the same time it just reflects my relationship with my students and the hard work we do together, and the families as well."

Abdelkhalig is one of six educators honored by this spring by the WEM Foundation and the Center for Academic Excellence for outstanding accomplishments and contributions to student learning. She is one of two recipients of the WEM Foundation’s statewide Teacher Achievement Award, which recognizes exemplary teachers who support, inspire and assist students.

Abdelkhalig didn't know exactly what she plans to do with the windfall, but said she is planning a trip to Africa this summer.

"It means a lot, just considering the fact of where I came, and the different life I had when I was back home, which is Sudan," she said. "And to be able to do what I'm doing right here is something really great. Something that makes me feel proud and happy." 

Abdelkhalig has been teaching first grade at Pilot Knob since 2005. She grew up in Sudan, where classrooms had limited resources and were barely furnished, but she was inspired by her teachers to succeed. Now she works hard to inspire her own students.

“Not only does Ms. Abdelkhalig inspire her students, she inspires the families as well,” said Benson. “She makes teaching a collaborative effort with parents. She is in constant contact and provides parents with ways to help their children.”

Abdelkhalig has asked that students who have not had much academic success be placed in her class. Students in her classroom have achieved at least a year and a half of academic growth and the majority grow two or more academic years, according to school district data.

Teachers are nominated for the awards program by students, parents, colleagues or community members.

Friendly Hills Middle School educator Anne Barnes was recognized in 2003 and fellow Pilot Knob teacher Jennifer Parker received a regional WEM award in 2009. In 2001, Alex Messicci of Somerset Elementary received the organization’s Ethics in Education award.