Provo Way Award Recipient: Marni Story, Wasatch Elementary Teacher

December 11th, 2023 /
Spencer Tuinei /
Elementary School, News, Recognitions and Awards, Schools, Wasatch

As educators, we do our best to prepare our students for the future—but what does this longstanding platitude mean?

At Provo City School District, one essential component of the statement requires teachers to create critical thinkers capable of not only remembering, understanding, and applying content in class, but analyzing and evaluating their work. It means learning how to engage with the world through testing and iteration and building the resolve to finish a task. Most importantly, it means preparing students to lead and facilitate change in their workplace, community, and home through creation. It’s a big ask of teachers, but gratefully, we have teachers like Wasatch Elementary Teacher and Provo Way Award Winner Marni Story who know how to extend learning and support learners through creative problem-solving and project-based experiences.

The Provo City School District and Board of Education awarded five Provo Way awards last month. The Provo Way Award is an opportunity for the district to celebrate the positive things students, teachers, administrators, parents, and staff do for the community.

Story is a model to many teachers and students at Wasatch Elementary; as a previous Visual Arts Sterling Scholar, Orem Chorale Singer, and musician (with eight instruments under her belt to boot), she’s brought an approach to learning through creation into her classroom, asking students to design using Adobe. Her work caught the eye of District Innovative Learning Specialist and Nominator Tina McCulloch, who had this to say about Marni Story in her nomination:

“She’s taken it upon herself to ensure students know how to create in your technologies. I want to praise her for getting into Adobe and letting her kids be the creators of content. That’s where learning happens: when students can create and show off what they know.”

Thank you, Marni, for preparing our kids to lead, learn, and create for life.