2023 Outstanding Graduates: Woodring College of Education

This year's Outstanding Graduates from Woodring, selected by their faculty, include a variety of talented teachers and a labor-and-delivery nurse.

WWU Communications reached out to all the 2023 Outstanding Graduates to share their stories and photos. We've been celebrating these grads on social media and here at WWU News. 

Meet some of the Outstanding Graduates from Woodring College of Education: 

Grace graduates with a bachelor’s degree in language, literacy, and cultural studies as well as an elementary teaching certificate. She also earned two endorsements: reading, and multilingual learners. She consistently went above and beyond for her students during her third-grade teaching internship in the Ferndale School District. Balancing high expectations with warmth, empathy, and culturally responsive teaching skills, Grace forges a great learning environment for all her students. After graduation, Grace will begin her teaching career in Ferndale.

Special Education Dual Endorsement Program faculty unanimously named Isabella the Outstanding Graduate for her academic excellence, outstanding teaching, and her collaboration skills. At Western, Isabella interned with kindergarten, first-grade and preschool special education classrooms. She also worked as a North2Western mentor for students at Burlington Edison High School and was very active in SPED Professional Development seminars. After graduating magna cum laude, Isabella will work as a transitional kindergarten teacher.

Emily is a 2008 WWU graduate in kinesiology, the mother of three, and  labor and delivery nurse with a passion for learning. Faculty remarked upon her calm, professional demeanor in the Bachelor of Nursing Program, where Emily deepened her understanding of how she wants to use her nursing skills to contribute to her community. She also developed a renewed commitment to equity in healthcare, along with the knowledge and confidence to bring about change. Now, Emily will continue to work at Skagit Valley Hospital while preparing to return to school for a doctoral degree in nursing practice. 

Alanna graduated from WWU at Olympic College, Bremerton, where she impressed her faculty and mentor teachers by integrating ideas across content areas. For her preschool internship, Alanna worked with an area construction company to donate supplies so the children could make birdhouses. She also worked with a local conservation group to share real-time information with the students about a nearby nest of eaglets. Alanna plans to launch her teaching career in a second- or third-grade classroom and would love to teach art. 

Today: 

• College of Science and Engineering
• Woodring College of Education

Previously:

• College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences Division
• College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Humanities Division
• College of Business and Economics
• College of Fine and Performing Arts

Coming up: 

• Interdisciplinary Programs
• College of the Environment
• Honors College