Galesburg, IL – A Knox College graduate is the recipient of an award that recognizes her for excellence in her profession.
The Galesburg Area Chamber of Commerce’s Education Task Force on March 21 named Jenny Bredemeier Galesburg Teacher of the Year.
The former Jenny Wunder majored in political science and was a four-year letter winner and a co-captain her senior year in golf at Knox before graduating in 2000. She helped Knox win the Midwest Conference Women’s Golf Championship between the 1996 and 2000 seasons.
The conference doesn’t formally recognize team champions for the 1997 and 1999 seasons because not enough teams competed in the MWC Tournament those years.
While several individual golfers participated, only Knox and St. Norbert College brought teams to the 1997 tournament. Knox finished 91 strokes ahead of SNC (736 to 837).
The 1999 tournament had four teams: Knox, Grinnell College, Monmouth College, and Ripon College – as well as individuals from other schools. The second round of the meet was reduced to nine holes because of bad weather. Knox finished with a team score of 565 followed by Grinnell’s 614.
Individually, Bredemeier placed sixth in the 1998 conference tourney and fifth in 1999. The nationally ranked 2000 Knox team earned a berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament played at Prairie Vista Golf Course and hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University.
A native of Knoxville, Bredemeier is now an award winning teacher at Nielsen Elementary School in Galesburg. She teaches reading recovery and Title I reading to students in kindergarten through fourth grade.
Bredemeier said she was nominated for the award by fellow Knox College graduate Ashley Shinn. “Ashley is also a very passionate teacher doing lots of great things at Nielsen School and in the Galesburg Community,” Bredemeier said.
Shinn is a kindergarten teacher at Nielsen.
Bredemeier said she has worked with Kathleen Ridlon, assistant professor of dance and director of the Center for Community Service at Knox, to coordinate a reading buddy program for about four years. She said Knox students volunteer to read with second and third grade students, and many return for several terms.
“I hope to continue to with this project. I also hope to find more ways to get Knox students, especially education majors, more involved in the local schools,” Bredemeier said. “I’m also very passionate about trying to get appropriate leveled and high interest books in the hands of my students.
Bredemeier added that she’s received over $25,000 worth of grants in the past three years. The grants all included getting books in the hands of children. “I will continue to work on getting a leveled literacy library at Nielson for all teachers to use,” she said.
Bredemeier said there are many great teachers in Galesburg and the surrounding communities that deserve recognition.
“I feel very lucky to have a job I love and to work in a district where I get to continue to stretch and pursue my dreams. I hope that the recognition will help to continue to expand the partnerships between the Galesburg schools and the community. Galesburg is very lucky to have so many businesses and schools that support one another and work together.”
Looking back at her golf career at Knox, Bredemeier said playing the sport taught her the importance of being a team.
“Being recognized as an individual is not nearly as meaningful as being recognized as a team. I am thankful for all the people at Knox and Nielson that help students even when they are not recognized. It takes a lot of people to make a difference.”
Bredemeier was also honored for her commitment to teaching and her students in 2005. She received an Alumni Shining Example Award from the Associated Colleges of Illinois (ACI), of which Knox is a member. Bredemeier and four other award recipients were given gift certificates to buy supplies for their classrooms.
The Shining Example Awards were created by the ACI to honor faculty in high-need schools.
Karen Gourd, who served as assistant professor of educational studies at Knox at the time, nominated Bredemeier for the award. Bredemeier was quoted as saying to the ACI after receiving the honor, “Education must be personalized. Whenever I can deliver one-on-one instruction, I see really big improvements.”
