SAXTONS RIVER — Carly Fox, a teacher at Vermont Academy, has been named the 2018 Vermont History Teacher of the Year, an award presented annually by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the nation's leading organization dedicated to K-12 American history education.
According to a news release, the History Teacher of the Year Award was inaugurated in 2004 to highlight the crucial importance of history education by honoring exceptional American history teachers from elementary school through high school.
The award honors one K-12 teacher from each state, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense schools, and U.S. Territories. In fall 2018, the National History Teacher of the Year will be selected from the pool of state winners.
“Carly is an intelligent, passionate American history teacher who inspires her students at Vermont Academy to become analytical thinkers and lifelong learners,” said Abbey Edwards, chair of Vermont Academy's history department. “She is an outstanding history teacher who is well deserving of this award.”
Fox holds a bachelor's degree in social sciences from California Polytechnic University and a master's degree in women's history from Sarah Lawrence College.
She approaches history from an anti-racist, feminist, and social history lens, encouraging students to understand the role that constructions of race, class, gender, and sexuality have played throughout U.S. history. She aims to inspire students to see themselves as active participants in history who have the ability to both change and challenge their present social and political moment.
In addition to teaching history, Fox teaches yoga at a local studio and serves on the board of Green Mountain Crossroads, a Brattleboro nonprofit that connects rural LGBTQ people to build community, visibility, and power.
In addition to a $1,000 honorarium and an award ceremony in Vermont, Fox's school library at Vermont Academy will receive a core archive of American history books and Gilder Lehrman educational materials.
Fox will also receive an invitation to a 2019 Gilder Lehrman Teacher Seminar, a weeklong program that offers teachers daily discussions with eminent historians, visits to historic sites, and hands-on work with primary sources.