N-P’s Turner says she is surprised and humbled by global fellowship selection

By Bob Fenske, Of the Reporter

Suzy Turner said she is humbled and honored to be one of 11 teachers from around the globe who have been selected for the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes Fellowship this summer.

She expects to learn a lot from those putting on the weeklong event at the center located in Fort Scott, Kansas, she said, but what really has her excited is the opportunity to meet with the other teachers who have been chosen.

“It’s the best part of these programs, in my mind,” she said. “The actual programs are interesting and educational, absolutely, but what sticks out to me when I’m involved with programs like this is meeting other teachers, finding out that this works, this didn’t work, this is something we tried. There’s a bond, and even years after I know I can contact them and bounce ideas off of them.”

Turner, who has taught at Nashua-Plainfield for 18 years, said what makes the Unsung Heroes Fellowship so special is the fact that the Lowell Milken Center (LMC) reached out to her.

Instead of applying for the program, the program she will attend later this month is by invitation only.

LMC officials said that Turner’s experiences as the advisor of Nashua-Plainfield’s powerhouse National History Day program and her involvement with organizations like the World War I Centennial Commission and the American Battle Monuments Commission made her a natural for the program.

“Honestly, I was a little surprised, just because usually these kind of things are you fill out a bunch of paperwork and hope you get selected,” Turner said. “This wasn’t like that so it was totally unexpected.”

While in Fort Scott, LMC fellows will gain knowledge, educational resources and support in helping students cultivate a passion for learning through the creation of projects that initiate positive change, according to information from the center.

“Fellows will be equipped to develop Unsung Heroes projects with their students, applying and evaluating the stories of these role models who have changed the world throughout history,” it said.

Although only Turner will be heading to Kansas for the weeklong program beginning June 26, she said the honor must be shared with a host of students, parents and staff members at Nashua-Plainfield.

She pointed out, for example, that Nashua residents Dave and Christine Skilton really “walked me through” the National History Day process. She also said that she’s been blessed by a multitude of “great students and supportive parents” who have helped the program become a mainstay at the national contest.

Those students, in turn, think the world of Turner.

“One thing you always know about Mrs. Turner is that she’s going to push you to do the very best project,” Caleb Sinnwell said in an interview last year after he won a national championship for his History Day project. “She’s a big part of why we do so well at National History Day. She never wants us to settle for ‘just good.’”

Morgan Kapping, a 2018 Nashua-Plainfield graduate whose individual National History Day exhibit finished third in the nation, agrees about Turner’s impact.

“Seriously, we all have our Turner stories, but we also know that all she wanted for us was to make sure we put together the best project we could,” said the recent University of Northern Iowa graduate. “A lot of us learned that to do that, you don’t cut corners and as stressful as it was, it was fun.”

Kapping paused and chuckled.

“Granted, we put her through a lot. I’m sure she’ll tell you that.”

Turner said, “To see kids get excited about history, that’s cool to me, and I think the other thing people don’t always realize is that we’re going up against some really powerhouse kids.

“At nationals, there are kids from boarding schools whose parents can fly their kids all around the globe, yet here we are. It shows our kids from little Nashua-Plainfield that ‘hey, we belong.’ That’s huge to me,” she said.

Turner is a 1987 graduate of Nashua High School, and after realizing business wasn’t her calling, she majored in education at the University of Northern Iowa. She taught for two years in Mason City, eight more in Charles City and spent a year with the Area Education Agency before going to Nashua-Plainfield.