Two School District of New Berlin teachers and three high school seniors have been chosen as Herb Kohl Educational Foundation award winners. It is the second consecutive year the SDNB has had at least five Kohl award recipients.

Aaron Chamberlain, a computer science teacher at New Berlin Eisenhower Middle/High School, and Amanda Upton, an English teacher at New Berlin West Middle/High School, have been awarded Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Fellowship Awards.

Chamberlain is in his third year at Eisenhower; Upton is in her sixth at West. They are two of 100 Wisconsin teachers 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, 188 graduating high school students have been recognized by the foundation with $10,000 scholarship awards including New Berlin Eisenhower’s Megan Choy and West’s Amberlee Webster and Nicholas Radish.

Choy and Webster 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.

Radish’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.

“We are very proud of this year’s ‘class’ of Herb Kohl award recipients,” Superintendent Joe Garza said. “Aaron Chamberlain and Amanda Upton are exceptional representatives of the skilled, dedicated and hard-working staff members we have throughout our schools. And having three student selections for the second straight year is a testament to the quality of students we are fortunate to have in our district.”

The Kohl Foundation Scholarship and Fellowship program was established by Herb Kohl, U.S. Senator (Retired), in 1990. To date, the foundation has awarded $17.8 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 and teachers and look forward to the great contributions they will make in the future.”

The five School District of New Berlin honorees, along with other regional winners, have been invited to be recognized at a luncheon at Greenfield High School on Saturday, April 13.