Clarkston Teacher of the Year 2008 Claudia Keglovitz poses with the congratulatory sign made by her art students at Clarkston Middle School. (Photo Special to The Oakland Press/ROBERT HALMO)
Getting Springfield Township resident Claudia Keglovitz, just named Teacher of the Year by the Clarkston Foundation for Public Education, to talk about herself or her award is difficult. Getting her to talk about her passions — art and her eighth- and ninth-grade students — is much easier. And that philosophy helps make her the outstanding teacher she is.
“When I went to the breakfast for the Clarkston Foundation,” Keglovitz recounted, “I said ‘This is great. I’m (in) the company of these amazing individuals and the jobs they do. The special ed teacher, Kelly Berti, and then there’s Mike Peterson, the drama teacher at the High School, and Kelley Woodworth, a gym teacher at one of the elementary schools, and Shelley Roland, the band teacher at Sashabaw Middle School.’ And listening to what these people do, I thought, ‘I just feel very blessed to be (in) their company, enjoy this morning, then go back and finish teaching.’
“When they said my name, I honestly felt, ‘There’s a mistake. That can’t be right.’ That was mind-blowing, that experience was. And then the whole week and even into this week, with kids saying congratulations and bringing signs, making signs, and flowers coming to the house. The focus, I feel, should be on the kids and the staff that I’m working with, who are truly amazing. The support from the parents and the kids that I teach, just the way the whole community is here, it’s very positive.”
When asked what characteristics made her the choice for the award, Keglovitz replied, “My most comfortable spot is just wearing an apron and having clay up to my elbows and working with kids, so when someone asks me, ‘How did you win this award?’ or ‘What do you think those characteristics are?’ I always feel just a little uncomfortable. But I just think that, probably, I just enjoy what I do so much that it doesn’t feel like working. Seeing kids have a spark go off that ‘I can paint and make something beautiful. I can learn to draw’ and start to believe in themselves is absolutely magical for me to be witnessing.
“My biggest fear,” Keglovitz went on, “is that someone will walk out of this classroom and feel that they were somehow intimidated, or belittled, or (told) that, ‘You should definitely not take another art class again, because you stink.’ Because it’s so crushing.
“Every single human being, and child, kid, teenager has a creative gift to give,” explained Keglovitz. “And I feel my job as an art teacher is to pull that out, so that they believe in themselves and they can learn that art is more than just drawing and painting and clay, and some of the magic of the art history that’s out there. And also try to express the art history or show them the art history in a way that doesn’t kill it for them.”
Keglovitz, who graduated from Rochester Adams High School, did her undergraduate work at Wayne State University, and her graduate work in humanities at Central Michigan University, has been teaching for 20 years, the last 13 in Clarkston schools.
She had her own artistic tendencies nurtured by two creative parents — her father, in particular, who painted and sold artwork of bullfighters at Detroit’s historic Scarab Club, before family responsibilities led to a career with Ford Motor Company and other companies.
In addition, Keglovitz said her “two boys,” as she calls them — Jim, her husband of 21 years, and her 15-year-old son Clay, a student at Clarkston High School — are also very supportive. Such support and nurturing in her life contributed to Keglovitz’s philosophy and style as a teacher.
“I want it to be fun and enjoyable. I think it’s exciting and I love being around kids. I will cook for my ninth graders, and they will bring in Italian dishes after we do a Renaissance-type assignment. And we’ll play Italian music. So, we try to infuse the whole room with the culture we’re studying, or the artists we’re studying. So it’s fun, we’ve got our senses all tuned in. Experience, not just draw a picture.”
In summing up being named Clarkston Teacher of the Year, Keglovitz once again credited others around her.
“This has truly been a humbling experience. And I do feel very honored, and the fact that this community, and the teachers, all the kids and parents, and our administration, it’s a reflection on all of that, more than me. Because I wouldn’t be able to feel all this love and generosity if it wasn’t for this amazing group of people that I’m surrounded by. I truly feel blessed to be a part of this situation, a classroom with teenagers in it and art supplies. It’s a fun job and I feel very lucky.
“The Clarkston Foundation, they are an incredible organization,” Keglovitz added. “Sherrie VanderVeen is the person in charge of the selection committee, and Jim Evans is the president. I can’t thank the Clarkston Foundation enough for how special they make you feel.”
