Photo provided Mindy Summers, 2024 Edna V. Folger Outstanding Teacher, holds her award and is shown with Central Middle School Principal Jay Payne.
A Central Middle School teacher is the winner of the 2024 Edna V. Folger Outstanding Teacher Award.
Mindy Summers received the award during a special presentation on March 27 and will be recognized again during the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting on Tuesday.
Summers teaches seventh and eighth grade language arts and is “passionately dedicated to the teaching profession and often leads professional development for her colleagues,” according to the award announcement.
She also serves as the CMS Yearbook and Speech Club advisor, whose teams consistently rank at the top across the region. Summers coaches the Spell Bowl Team and the Academic Super Bowl Interdisciplinary Team as well.
Grace Wang, a former student of Summers, referred to her as a role model who showed Wang the power of storytelling and self-expression. Wang noted that Summers has unlimited passion and energy and someone who “teaches beautifully” giving her students a piece of her heart with each lesson.
“Ms. Summers helps shape the hearts of her middle school students – helping to grow real, authentic writers who develop a passion for the craft and a devotion to the art form,” Wang said. “As a middle school student beginning to mature socially and academically, having a role model like Ms. Summers to tirelessly guide me through so many experiences was invaluable. She helped me find the pathway to become a published writer, a nationally awarded poet, and a student at Harvard.”
As part of this recognition, Summers received a monetary gift from SIHO Insurance Services; an inscribed clock from the IU Columbus Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL); and her name will be added to a permanent plaque in the Columbus Learning Center that lists all previous Folger Award winners.
