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Tragesser shows leadership in classroom

Carie Tragesser, a fifth and sixth grade math teacher at Ridgeway Elementary was named Educator of the Year at the Harry T. Wilks Hamilton Celebrates Education banquet held Oct. 22. She was nominated for the award by her colleagues at Monroe Elementary, where she taught last year.

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By Richard O Jones, Staff Writer 8:39 PM Sunday, November 1, 2009

Editor’s note: This is part of a regular series on women of influence in Butler County.

HAMILTON — In nominating her for the Educator of the Year award, Carie Tragesser’s fellow teachers at Monroe Elementary, where she taught last school year, said that her name “is synonymous with the word “leader.”

“She is constantly learning, always seeking new approaches and leading the school down a positive path,” they wrote. “Her leadership qualities help change a ‘Yes, but —’ approach to an ‘Oh yes, we can’ mindset.

“She is an outstanding motivator who convinces her students that they can learn and that what she has to teach them is important. She teaches with enthusiasm and flair and is an inspiration to all.

“Making a difference in one child’s life qualifies as success,” said Tragesser’s nomination, “making a difference in dozens of lives is our candidate.”

Tragesser, who was named Educator of the Year at the Hamilton Celebrates Education banquet on Oct. 22, said that she felt “really blessed” to be nominated by her peers.

“Just being recognized by my colleagues was a reward in itself,” she said. “We’re a team. Like the Titanic, if the ship goes down, we all go down. We’re all here for the same purpose, to make a difference with every kid that walks through the door.”

She sees the award, then, as an affirmation of the teamwork that she shared with them at Monroe, which has now carried over to her current assignment at the new Ridgeway Elementary.

“We all support each other and that’s a beautiful thing,” she said. “I don’t think I’m at all better than my colleagues, but that I was chosen to represent them.

“I have the award in my house, but they’re welcome to come and share it.”

It would come as no surprise to anyone who knows her that Tragesser loved school when she was a child.

“I was always one of those overachievers, always worked extra hard,” she said. “I had to work really hard for my grades, though. It didn’t come easy. But I think my parents really instilled in me good school skills and worked with us at home. I always wanted peer approval and I wanted my teachers’ approval, so I really worked hard.”

Tragesser grew up in Oxford and went through the Talawanda school system with her twin sister Tarie, which she says surprises a lot of people because the family name is big in the Ross area, where it owns a Ford dealership. Her sister also teaches art in the Ross district.

“I had great teachers and I think that had the impact on me becoming a teacher,” she said. “I always loved kids, too. I was a lifeguard before I was a teacher. I don’t know if that’s because I was a twin, but I’ve always been very social.”

She said that one of the main things she learned from her teachers that has helped in her career is to not be intimidating to her students.

“I respected my teachers as elders, but I had a good rapport with them and they would praise me when I was doing well,” she said. “They took the time and were personable with me. And they made me laugh in class. It wasn’t just, ‘Get out your books.’

“My outlook for teaching is to teach a concept hands-on. They’re doing something, and then we can bring in the concept and they grasp it better.”

Consequently, by the time she graduated from Talawanda, she knew she was going to be a teacher and chose to attend Miami University in spite of its proximity because of its strong education program.

“I enjoyed college, but I was a workaholic,” she said. “I also carried a job, at least 20 hours a week, so I was busy, very structured. If I went back now I might change a few things because I was always on task getting all my work done because I had to work for everything. Some people could just come to class and get it, but I had to study.

“Even though I was close to my parents, I made it a real college experience. I probably never missed a class, or if I did, I worried over it. I never wanted to be in trouble.”

Her first teaching job was subbing at Monroe Elementary, where by the end of the school year she was filling in for a long-term maternal leave, and it was there she found herself drawn to the late elementary-age students.

“I was certified for grades one through eight, but I didn’t really know exactly where I wanted to teach,” she said. “I did my student teaching in the first grade and I loved it. But then I had a taste of third, fifth grade while I was subbing and I started liking that age a lot, too. They were starting to become independent, but they really needed you.

“I feel like I’m pretty creative and hands on and I love the critical thinking of the fifth, sixth grade. I love those dynamics because they start becoming who they are going to be, so you have that impact.”

In addition to teaching math, Tragesser said that it’s also important to teach life skills and a certain kind of morality, mostly about respecting others while being the best you can be for yourself.

“I want them to learn to have fun, to live their lives to the fullest and make a difference now,” she said. ‘I also want them to be kids, to take pride in themselves, to have fun while learning, to be excited about learning and coming to school, and to continue that up through college.

“I love what I do, and I’m glad I have the opportunity to share that with the kids, to let them love it, too, to feel the love that I felt when I was their age,” she said. “I hope that they know that each and every one of them is important, that I love each and every one of them and want them to strive to be their best.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188 or rjones@coxohio.com.

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