Phebe and Zephaniah Swift Moore Teaching Award

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Barbara A. Gribbins-Krollage standing to be honored at Commencement
ENGLISH TEACHER
WEST ISLIP HIGH SCHOOL
WEST ISLIP, NEW YORK

Nominated by Scott Nelson ’18

“Arealm of larger epistemological aim and deeper philosophical questions, a place where I could (and was encouraged to) bring my struggles, thoughts, and opinions”: that’s how Scott Nelson ’18 describes Barbara Krollage’s International Baccalaureate English classroom during his junior year. He recalls that Krollage invited students to consider “the literary, moral, and sociological complexities” raised by every text and “pushed students towards higher learning in all of its forms while supporting them in their pursuits to achieve it.” It was she who urged Nelson to consider applying to Amherst. And, Nelson notes, her classroom was the perfect preparation for life at the College: “Our community here, a community that is welcoming, warm, questioning, grasping, and searching, is the embodiment of Krollage’s pedagogical form.” She gave Nelson “a lens for interpreting the world” that will always be with him; she inspired a shift in his sense of the goal of education “from a pursuit of understanding to a quest for meaning, the impact of which cannot be overstated.”