ROANOKE, Va. – English language learner teacher Dawn Custalow can not believe she won the Education Impact Award.
“I am very touched,” Custalow said.
She was touched and surprised to be named January’s Education Impact Award Winner.
“I had no idea about this,” Custalow said.
Custalow said she always wanted to be a teacher when she grew up.
She attended Bridgewater College and later earned her Master’s in Education at Virginia Tech. Custalow did post-graduate work overseas.
“I was in the university world in the Czech Republic, so I did some post-graduate training there as well,” Custalow said.
Custalow’s love for teaching brought her back to Virginia.
She was at Lucy Addison for five years and taught Spanish, and now is in her 5th year teaching at William Fleming.
She teaches kids basic English as a second language and loves bringing energy to the classroom to make sure students can learn or as she calls it, “presence.”
“I think what really helps is having presence. I think teachers need presence in the classroom, and that means the students know that you are there and that you are on point,” Custalow said.
William Fleming Assistant Principal Amanda Spore Poe said Custalow’s presence was the first thing she immediately noticed when they started working together.
“You can definitely tell when a teacher has a presence in the classroom. The students take on the personality of the teacher,” Poe said.
Even school leaders mentioned that Custalow’s presence in the classroom is powerful.
“You can not miss it. She has such a powerful presence, but it comes across in a caring way,” Elizabeth Schenkel, with Roanoke City Public Schools, said.
Blue Eagle Credit Union awarded Custalow with $250, which she said would go to her kids.
The other $250 goes to William Flemming High School.
Blue Eagle Staff said they picked Custalow for the January Education Impact Award because of how she engages with her students.
“The way she engaged with them, teaching English as a second language really impacted these students and that they saw their graduation day,” Laurissa Thompson, with Blue Eagle Credit Union, said.
Custalow is pleased to have received the award; she believes her work with students of all backgrounds shows how diverse Roanoke is becoming.
“We think of cities out west; we think of New York, Chicago, but it’s happening right here, and so, it’s exciting to see,” Custalow said.