MEGAN COURTNEY | Reporter

Jill Hutcheson said she was honored when she heard the news that she had won the Midwest Regional Counselor Award presented by Kappa Delta Pi.

The assistant dean of teacher education said that she was humbled when she found out that the Kappa Delta Pi officers nominated her for the award, because she had no idea that they were doing it.

According to the Kappa Delta Pi website, the award recognizes a dedicated counselor from each region who excels in their role for that region. The counselors achieving this award are leaders who represent the mission and ideals of Kappa Delta Pi and who have achieved excellence in the role of counselor.

“Our chapter is the top five chapter,” Hutcheson said. “We are really involved with providing professional development to our members.”

Hutcheson said that she is involved with a lot of activities. In one activity, called Teacher Tip Thursdays, a speaker related to the education field comes in and talks to the students about various topics one Thursday a month.

She also helps with the educational resource fair every spring that approximately 250 students, faculty and teachers in the community attend. They invite vendors that have free or low-cost resources for the attendees.

“By trying to support the growth and learning of the membership is what caused them to nominate me for the award, and I’m just so thankful,” she said. “I was really touched. I cried, I think. I didn’t know it was coming. Most of the time, we as teachers just do what we do. We’re not waiting for a ‘Hey, nice job’ or a ‘Thank you,’ I was just doing what I do. I take teaching very seriously.”

Hutcheson will receive the award at Kappa Delta Pi’s 51st Biennial Convocation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between Oct. 26-28.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misspelled Hutcheson’s name and incorrectly stated her title.