Three School District of New Berlin teachers and three graduating high school seniors have been chosen as Herb Kohl Educational Foundation award winners.

Rebecca Klug, an art teacher at New Berlin West Middle/High School; Katelyn Morici, a special education teacher at Poplar Creek Elementary; and Katie Mulloy, a physical education teacher at Ronald Reagan Elementary; all have been awarded a Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Fellowship Award.

Klug is in her fourth year in the district and at West; Morici, a New Berlin West alumnus, is in her third year in the district, all at Poplar Creek; and Mulloy is in her 12th year in the district, the last eight at Ronald Reagan.

They are three of 100 teachers around the state to earn this year’s $6,000 award with a matching $6,000 award given to their respective schools.

Fellowship recipients are educators who have been chosen for their superior ability to inspire a love of learning in their students, their ability to motivate others, and their leadership service within and outside the classroom.

Additionally, 191 graduating high school students have been recognized by the foundation, with $10,000 scholarship awards, including New Berlin West’s Karlee Anderson and New Berlin Eisenhower’s Lauren Demasek and Alexis Santos.

Anderson and Demasek earned Excellence Scholarships, given to those who have demonstrated excellence in the academic arena and high motivation to achieve, have displayed a broad range of activity and leadership outside the academic setting, and have shown strong promise for succeeding in college and beyond.

Santos’s award is an Initiative Scholarship, given to those who have demonstrated exceptional initiative in the classroom and have shown strong promise for succeeding in college and beyond, but have not yet received other academic-based scholarships.

Fellowship and Excellence Scholarship recipients are selected by a statewide committee composed of civic leaders and representatives of education-related associations and the program’s co-sponsors: The Wisconsin Newspaper Association Foundation, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Wisconsin Council of Religious and Independent School, regional Cooperative Educational Service Agencies and the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators.

“Every year, we are proud to have Herb Kohl award recipients - both teachers and students - but this might be our largest group ever,” Superintendent Joe Garza said. “To have six selections from across our district speaks volumes about the high-quality staff and amazing students we have in our schools. Receiving these awards is not only a great accomplishment and honor for each of the individuals, but for our schools, our district and our community, as well.”

The Kohl Foundation Scholarship and Fellowship program was established by Herb Kohl, U.S. Senator (Retired), in 1990. To date, the foundation has awarded $14.5 million to Wisconsin educators, students, and schools.

“Education is the key to the future of Wisconsin and our nation,” Kohl said. “I am very proud of the accomplishments of these students, teachers and principals and look forward to the great contributions they will make in the future.”

The six School District of New Berlin honorees, along with other regional winners, have been invited to be recognized at a luncheon at Riverside University High School on Sunday, April 8.