By Renee Larr
Zionsville Community High School special education teacher Julie Noel is one of 100 Indiana teachers to receive the 2016 Teacher Creativity Fellowship Grant from the Lilly Endowment Fund. The grants are designed to help teachers renew their passion for teaching by exploring dreams and interest areas, and the $12,000 will provide a hands-on education opportunity for Noel in Scotland.
Noel plans to hike the West Highland Way, a 96-mile route that goes from Glasgow into the highlands.
“I’m constantly pushing and challenging (my students) and getting them outside of their comfort zone,” she said. “So, I’m putting myself out of my comfort zone in Scotland.”
She plans to meet with outdoor education centers while in Scotland and apply what she learns in Zionsville. The trip is planned during June and July.
Noel grew up in Bloomington and said she has always enjoyed spending time outdoors. She said she’s been a long-time believer in involving students in outdoor activities to help them learn in settings outside of their comfort zones.
“When I was a student at IU in special education, I learned about Camp Riley, which operates out of Bradford Woods in the summer. It’s a camp set up for children and adults with physical and mental disabilities,” Noel said. “I worked a couple of summers there and saw what that experience did for the people who attended there. This was the biggest thing in their life.”
Noel said she is thankful for the opportunity to learn in a non-traditional setting.
“I feel very blessed and grateful to the Lilly Endowment that I get to do this,” Noel said. “I know why I do what I do. It’s important. It gets me all choked up. I’m pretty tickled I get to do this.”
