Kerry Demers
Salpointe Catholic High School
Tucson, Arizona

"If students know the power of language they will survive, and they will become the perceptive leaders we need. The thinkers of the past and present should be made accessible to all students regardless of achievement level."

"Albert Einstein lives in my room, or, at least his image does. Adjacent to his face reads, 'Imagination is more important than knowledge.' When I reflect on this poster, I think of you, Mrs. Demers. You rekindled my love for learning, and in doing so, my love for living. You are truly God's gift to academics, to human thought, and to this crazy thing we call life."

The mission of Kerry's program is to "gather together to tell the story." Constant questioning is her ultimate goal for her students. She asks them to consider why they think the way they do and helps them to learn how to ask the right questions. Weaving the study of History and the Arts into their reading is a key part of how Kerry unlocks the students' understanding of the power of language and literature. Students gain a better sense of themselves and their places in history by interviewing family members, researching primary family documents, and creating bound records of their own family histories. After learning more about themselves and studying American autobiographers, students write autobiographical pieces of their own. "As teachers, if we give the students the tools and the inspiration, they have the ability to tell their own story and create a 'text' of their time."

Other Highlights:

• Coordinator of Humanities Program Salpointe Catholic HS; team teaching with 6 teachers providing an interdisciplinary approach: junior year The American Experience in History, Art/Music/Literature, Religion; senior year World Art/Culture, World Literature; 1989-2002.
• Coordinator of yearly Shakespeare Competition at Salpointe Catholic HS in conjunction with the English Speaking Union of Southern Arizona and U of A's Theatre in the Schools Week; 1987-present
• Salpointe's Shakespeare competition was featured on the Charles Kuralt CBS Sunday Morning Show, 1994
• Selected as English Teacher of the Year by colleagues at Salpointe Catholic High School, 1998
• Southern Arizona High School English Teacher of the Year Award presented by the Ohio State Alumni Club: Citation for distinguished achievement in recognition of outstanding leadership, achievements and creative contributions to high school English Instruction, 1994
• Awarded funding by the ESU to attend a seminar on The Age of Shakespeare in Cambridge, England 1993; attended Shakespeare and the Renaissance: Art, Literature and Music in Elizabethan England; sponsored by British Airways and the ESU, Oxford (2000)
• Presentation of Humanities program at NCEA in New Orleans with team of 6 teachers, 1999
• Awarded funding to attend Worlds of the Renaissance National Summer Institute in New York, sponsored by the NEH and The Renaissance Society of America, 1995
• Presenter at the Arizona English Teacher Association conference in Phoenix; topic: "Teaching Shakespearean Comedy and Contemporary Comedy," 1984