Dream job award

By Tania Martin
SAMANTHA Scheele is an inspiration to her students.
The Emerald Secondary College teacher has been honoured with a nomination for the 2008 NEiTA teacher excellence awards.
Ms Scheele said the nomination was both a shock and an honour.
She said there were many teachers who where doing fabulous things at the school.
“I was just one of many who could have been nominated,” Ms Scheele said.
Acting principal Tanja Korsten said Ms Scheele was an inspirational teacher who always created a stimulating learning environment for her students.
The awards this year have moved away from recognising the vital role that teachers play in their students’ lives to celebrating the role that inspirational teachers play in education.
Ms Scheele said teaching had always been a dream of hers.
“I wanted to be a science teacher since I was a little girl,” she said.
But she has made a few detours in her career path.
When Ms Scheele was undertaking her science degree she decided to revise her career goals because at the time the former Premier of Victoria Jeff Kennett was closing a lot of the state’s schools. “I had only ever wanted to be a teacher but with so many schools closing I rethought my career at that point,” she said.
Ms Scheele decided to go into corporate training.
Although she enjoyed working in the corporate world, Ms Scheele said her desire to teach children became stronger than ever.
She decided to go back to school to study for her diploma of education so that she could realise her dream.
Ms Scheele’s first teaching job was at Emerald Secondary College where she taught for several years before leaving to have children.
During this sabbatical Ms Scheele was approached by Monash University to join its teacher training department.
But again the desire to teach young minds was too strong and Ms Scheele was led back to her former school.
She has been teaching at Emerald for the past three years and says it’s a fantastic place to work. Ms Scheele said it was a great honour to be nominated but that it wasn’t something that she aspired to.
“I just love teaching and being in the classroom,” she said.
Fellow teacher Andrew Batchelor has also been nominated for the awards by parents from his pervious school, Mornington Secondary College.
Nominations for the 2008 NEiTA Awards are now open until 31 July and will be presented to in October.