Rural teachers need to be elevated and celebrated. For all the conversations and challenges we hear about our public education system, it is all too easy to forget that behind it all are living, breathing, thinking, feeling professionals that desire to love our children into becoming the best versions of themselves possible. For this reason, the Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools was proud to establish our very first Illinois Rural Teacher of the Year Award to recognize the contributions of rural educators across the state.
For the award, rural schools were encouraged to nominate an exemplary teacher in their district according to three core criteria. First, the teacher is required to have made significant contributions to their students and colleagues. Second, the teacher must have made a broader impact with parents and the community. Third, the teacher had to have a demonstrated history of accomplishments within a rural school. The goal behind these criteria was to award not only a teacher’s unique contributions as an educator, but also as a community leader.
The AIRSS Illinois Rural Teacher of the Year Selection Committee was thrilled to have received a robust response to the new award, and even more thrilled to announce Mrs. Dee Rose, the Band and Choir Teacher for Shawnee CUSD #84 in Wolf Lake as our inaugural Illinois Rural Teacher of the Year!
Mrs. Rose was nominated by her superintendent, Ms. Shelly Clover-Hill. In her nomination, Ms. Clover-Hill shared that, “Mrs. Rose is an extraordinary teacher, respected leader among her colleagues, and a kind and generous human being dedicated to student success.” Mrs. Rose’s clear commitment to her school, impact on her students and families, and leadership in the community quickly elevated her as the top choice for the first Illinois Rural Teacher of the Year.
Meeting Mrs. Rose
To honor Mrs. Rose’s achievement, we’ve asked her to share about her story, school, and students.
Mrs. Dee Rose is now in her 30th year of service to Shawnee School District. Over her time with Shawnee, she’s experienced the ebbs and flows of challenges and opportunities that rural schools face. Originally, she was hired as the K-12 Vocal Teacher in three different buildings. As enrollment, finances, and staff departures forced the district to reconfigure offerings, she then became the 6-12 Band and Choir Director before combining further into her current role as the Pre K-12 Music, Band, and Choir Teacher. Ms. Clover-Hill writes that, “through every transition, Mrs. Rose has been instrumental in leading the charge to ensure chorus and band students were able to successfully navigate the switch.”
Passion, commitment, and leadership for her department, students, and school defines Mrs. Rose. “She possesses this amazing, ‘We can do this,’ attitude no matter the challenge before her, which makes students believe they can do anything as well,” Ms. Clover-Hill adds.
Reflecting on her journey, Mrs. Rose remembers that, growing up, she actually wanted to be a nurse. “I thought I was going to follow in my mom’s footsteps, but I had amazing music teachers at Edwards County High School. One day my choir teacher said, ‘Dee, what do you think you want to be when you grow up?’ I said I wanted to be a nurse like mom, but she says, ‘Oh, well have you ever thought of being a music teacher?’ It was literally like a flip of the switch in my brain, and I just went in a whole different direction.”
Rooted in Rural Education
Few districts in Illinois are as rural and remote as Shawnee. It is one of the geographically longest districts in the state, and the Shawnee community has endured despite challenges on many fronts that could have toppled many other rural districts. In part, the district’s resilience is practical: many students would have to travel nearly two hours to get to the next available school. But even more so, the district’s tenacity is a testament to the exemplary administrators, staff, and teachers like Mrs. Rose who keep it running. Because of their commitment to students, Shawnee, despite its location and small size, has proudly employed award winning faculty and staff and nurtured students to become professional athletes, nationally syndicated radio hosts, Emmy award winners, and even a world-renowned opera singer.
Mrs. Rose’s own journey into education is proof of the power of the “shoulder tap,” or direct encouragement of our students to become educators themselves. Being born and raised in rural Southern Illinois, Mrs. Rose wanted to return to a small and rural school to serve the same type of student she was growing up. Her deep roots and personal contacts helped her land in Shawnee as her school home. Laughing, she remembers how, “they called me Monday and asked if I could come in for an interview on Wednesday. ‘Well,’ I said, ‘I’m actually getting married on Saturday!’ They had a board meeting that same Thursday and the next day they hired me.”
Education can be a difficult profession, and rural education brings its own unique challenges. Thinking about her decision to become a rural teacher above all, Mrs. Rose affirms, “I have always said I have the greatest job in the world. I get to sing and dance and play music all day long. I grew up loving music, and I love it when I see the love grow in them [students] as well. To see that light come on and to see them understand it and want to do better and keep improving.”
A Leader for Students and Community
Being a music teacher, Mrs. Rose has faced the difficulties of changing student numbers. “We started as two teachers, and kept it at two for a long time,” she shares, “but our numbers are just so low now and every year is different. I’ve had groups from only five to ten students, to right now where I’m marching a band of 52. One year I only had three kids in the high school band.”
Importantly, Mrs. Rose still engaged, encouraged, and supported students to explore the arts even if they couldn’t take her classes. She says, “I work with all of them, the high schoolers that can’t be in the band but still want to play or sing in the choir. We make arrangements for them to do that because I don’t want them to miss out. The hard part about having a rural school is the small numbers. You can’t have all the teams and music groups, so you have to learn to work together. That’s also what’s so great about being a rural school: they do work together.”
The dedication of their teacher and the necessity of working together leaves an indelible impact on students across their lifetime. Even after graduation, many students have not only gone on to accomplish great achievements in music, but have returned to Shawnee to support the school and its music program. Mrs. Rose even remembers recently one student who, even years after graduating, nominated her for a favorite local teacher award. This type of professional commitment and personal compassion completely transforms the educational and social ecosystem of a rural school community.
Even more, Mrs. Rose is a community leader as well. Outside of school, she directs her church choir and oversees their weekly song service; she’s responsible for the summer Vacation Bible School: she leads both a community Christmas program and Easter Cantata; and she is an avid baker for family, friends, the school, and community. “Mrs. Rose continuously exhibits leadership qualities by volunteering her time before and after school, including as a tutor for chorus and band students. In fact, she has been doing this many years now and staff are accustomed to being serenaded into work each morning to the sounds of students singing and instruments playing,” Ms. Clover-Hill adds. “She is such a pillar of the community and a blessing to us.”
Mrs. Rose’s Guiding Philosophy
Enthusiasm and Love form the core of Mrs. Rose’s purpose for educating. The blend of these two powerful traits together empowers her students to be their very best. “I have a high school student right now,” she shares, “that has learned so much from going to band camp in the summer. It’s awesome because I’m not a percussion person but he is so excited about it and he comes back and wants the whole drum line to be as excited as he is. He’s a great teacher and mentor for them.”
For all the high points in rural education, issues arise that can make it difficult for teachers to lead with their passion for the profession. In those times, Mrs. Rose recalls “being flexible. It’s never about me, it’s about these kids and what they can get. Not every child is an academic or plays sports. Flexibility is key and you have to be able to encourage these kids and push them without forcing them.” She continues, saying that her goal in the good and bad times is to give students “opportunities and give them a chance to succeed. That’s what it’s all about–finding what they’re good at and makes them happy, and doing that.” In a rural school, Mrs. Rose loves “that we allow them to do that,” to explore opportunities through school and education.
The Power of Education
In a time of growing isolation and agitation, the power of loving, being human, and supporting each other is invaluable. That’s the power of education, that’s why rural schools are essential for rural communities, and that’s why Mrs. Rose is an exemplary rural educator. “It makes your heart feel good to know that you’ve had an impact, and sometimes you don’t know the impact that you have had on some kids,” she reflects, “There was one student in particular that said I was probably the only reason he was alive. He was in a bad place in his head, but he said, ‘You loved me, and I knew it,’ and I did.”
Over time, this individual impact adds up to generations in a community that a single rural teacher has had the distinct privilege of supporting. Mrs. Rose joyfully recalls how the community “sees me walking down the parade route and I just bounce from one side to the other hugging people…and I love that I’m important enough to them to do this because they are important to me. Every kid that I’ve had, good or bad, made an impact on me, and so I just think that this community is amazing.”
“I’m most proud of the person that she is to everybody,” Ms. Clover-Hill shares, “We’re very blessed to not just have her teaching. She loves everybody, even when we’re hard to love, and we’re so appreciative of that.”
A Message of Hope and Purpose
Rural teachers are the foundation of rural education, and the heart and soul of rural communities. Through their compassionate leadership and innovation, our students are empowered to become local leaders in their unique pathways themselves. Thinking about the future, Mrs. Rose wants students “to have fun, to feel loved, and hopefully learn something and become better humans.”
This central hope has taken on new importance since the Pandemic. “You know,” Mrs. Rose shares, “The world stopped for a year, and then trying to restart after that year was ridiculous. I would say we are just now starting to see kids building that drive back. They’re not waiting for a handout, they’re not waiting for someone to tell them what to do. They’re taking that step and asking how we can make things better.”
Despite all the hardships, Mrs. Rose holds onto hope for education and the future. This begins by “loving what you do and setting your own life rules,” she shares, but the drive to strive forward comes from “seeing those kids and the light that comes on from their excitement.”
Mrs. Rose concludes by humbly sharing her source of inspiration and purpose:
“Giving children the love of music, and letting them love it and letting them enjoy it, because music is forever.”
