Helma Wardenaar Deserves the Teacher of the Year Award

A great teacher doesn't just teach children about the world. A great teacher makes sure they get to experience it.

Helma Wardenaar—often referred to in the media as "Ms. Helma"—teaches at the Academy for Global Citizenship (AGC), a public charter school in Chicago, Illinois. According to the school's official profile, Wardenaar is a founding teacher and case manager who works with students with diverse learning needs, using sensory integration and creative approaches to support their individual goals.

Love What Matters, a website that shares uplifting stories of kindness, love, and healing, has highlighted AGC's unique educational approach, which combines academic learning with nature education, service learning, and hands-on activities. Wardenaar helps ensure that all students, including those with special needs, can participate fully.

Ms. Helma was determined not to let her 10-year-old student, Maggie Vasquez, who has cerebral palsy, miss out on one of the most wonderful adventures of her childhood.

The school was preparing for a three-day camping trip in the woods, but the rugged terrain made Maggie's wheelchair and walker unusable, threatening to exclude her from an experience her classmates would share.

Refusing to give up, Wardenaar searched for a solution until she found a specialized child-carrying pack. Rather than waiting for the school to provide assistance, she spent approximately $300 of her own money to purchase it.

Throughout the trip, she carried Maggie on her back, navigating difficult trails, crossing streams, and stepping over fallen trees. This allowed Maggie to experience nature firsthand, observing birds, butterflies, frogs, and deer alongside her classmates.

She carried Maggie for about two hours each day. Despite the exhaustion, Maggie encouraged her with songs and kind words. She even massaged her teacher's neck to help ease her fatigue!

For three days, teacher Helma Wardenaar carried her 10-year-old student with cerebral palsy on her back for at least two hours a day so she could experience the camping trip with her classmates. Her student weighed about 60 pounds. 

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Helma was far more than a teacher simply performing her job. For this young girl, she became a bridge to a world Maggie could not have reached on her own.

The greatest gift a teacher can offer a student is not merely knowledge, but the profound sense that they, too, deserve to experience every beautiful moment in life, just like everyone else.

After learning about this remarkable story of kindness and compassion, I nominate Helma Wardenaar for the Teacher of the Year Award.