St. Regis teacher recipient of the Horace Mann Abraham Lincoln Fellowship

Fifth grade students in Diane Gingerich's class were captivated on Friday as they listened to her talk about the colonists and their protest against King George's taxes. Hands were quickly going up as Gingerich answered student's questions, and took their comments, as they studied two different types of pictures, each presenting a different take on one event.

Gingerich is one of fifty teachers from across the United States that was selected as the recipient of the Horace Mann Abraham Lincoln Fellowship. This summer, Gingerich will get to travel to Springfield, Ill, with all expenses for the trip paid, to study and learn about Abraham Lincoln over a course of five days. Gingerich will get to utilize the archives and study at the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, visit the law offices that Lincoln had, see Lincoln's tomb, visit the old capitol as well as the new capitol and see his home.

"The idea is to come back as better teachers and share what you learn with students," Gingerich said. "One of the most exciting things for me is to be able to travel halfway across country and someone else is paying for it."

Gingerich learned of the fellowship in one of her regular magazines that she reads that's geared toward teachers. When she saw it, she thought about how fun it would be to be able to go visit Illinois.

"My husband suggested that I should apply, but I thought but they're only taking 50 out of the entire Untied States, what are the chances?" Gingerich said. "But my husband told that if I didn't apply I wouldn't even have the chance, and even if I applied and didn't get it, the only thing I'd lost was some of my time. So I went ahead and applied."

Gingerich said that the advertisement had said that those who were selected to go would know by March 22. Well, March 22 came and went and Gingerich justified that maybe it was just taking longer because she was so far out in Montana. She sort of decided that she hadn't been selected after a few more days passed, but when she returned to teaching in St. Regis after spring break, Larry Vaculik, a representative from Horace Mann Insurance, surprised her by showing up to let her know she had been chosen.

"I was shocked," Gingerich said. "Nobody expects to be one of 50 or the only from Montana to be chosen. It's extremely humbling and exciting. I'm a small town teacher, and here I am one of 50 that get to go and do this."

The purpose of the fellowship is to bring together exceptional educators from across the country to study the life of Abraham Lincoln and to develop strategies for applying historical content in the classroom and across the curriculum. In applying for the fellowship, Gingerich had to answer two essay questions, one of them being why she felt that it was important for students to study Abraham Lincoln.

"In the community that I'm teaching in there are so many kids that have so little. Lincoln is a great role model to show them that you can come from little or nothing and with the right amount of effort and determination you can do anything, even become president. Lincoln overcame so many hardships, yet he never give up," Gingerich said. "And that can be really inspiring."

Gingerich also feels that her success in applying for the fellowship shows kids that "if you'll take the chance, good things will happen," and that the opportunities are out there.

Gingerich's students are also excited for her and the opportunity that she has. She said that they knew she was applying because whenever they would complain about an assignment she offered them the chance to write the essays instead. Gingerich said she is excited about getting her hands on the archives and is hoping to bring back lots to share with students in the coming school year.

"I hope I bring back a lot of enthusiasm and information to share with the kids. I'm excited that it's happening in St. Regis, it speaks well of district. And I want to represent the district well while I'm down there," Gingerich said. "History is just like reading a great story. It's the story of our world and our country. It's exciting to be able to get the kids excited and have them understanding and in the process hopefully creating good citizens because if you don't get involved and aren't aware, you can't make this a better place."