Northwest alumni receive Outstanding Beginning Teacher awards

Three Northwest Missouri State University alumni have been named Outstanding Beginning Teachers for 2024-2025 by the Missouri Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (MACTE).

Jenna King, who graduated with bachelor’s degrees in elementary education and special education last year, is completing her first year of teaching special education for grades seven through 12 in the South Nodaway R-IV School District.

Caylea Dill, who graduated from Northwest in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in art education, is finishing her first year of teaching art at Richardson Elementary School in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

McKenna Lambert, also graduated from Northwest in 2023, earning a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. She has been employed for two years as a preschool teacher in the Linn County R-I School District.

All three women were honored in February by MACTE. The organization accepts nominations for its awards every other year, and winners were recognized at its spring conference in Columbia, Missouri.

“I was very surprised but so happy and grateful at the same time to have been thought of,” King said. “It was definitely a whirlwind of emotions.”

As a requirement of Northwest’s elementary education program, King spent the first semester of her fourth year completing her residency practicum with the Savannah R-III School District, where she taught fifth grade at Minnie Cline Elementary School and special education math at Savannah Middle School. After completing her practicum, King spent her spring semester student teaching in special education at Minnie Cline.

Last fall, King began teaching special education for grades seven through 12 at South Nodaway Jr. Sr. High School.

When reflecting on her first year of teaching, King credits her success to the backing of her academic advisors at Northwest, including Dr. Tamara Lynn, an assistant professor of professional education. As her interest in working with students with disabilities grew at Northwest, King sought volunteer and leadership opportunities to develop her skill set further, including Special Olympics events.

“I am so unbelievably proud of how Jenna has grown through the special education program at Northwest,” Lynn said. “As a freshman, Jenna was still exploring education as a major and unsure of where she wanted to end up after graduation. She leaned into her cohort members, becoming quick friends with her peers and really soaked up every learning experience we could provide for her. During her four years, her confidence grew so much, which was evident by the pure joy she brought to class, field experiences and everyone she interacted with.”

Lambert transferred to Northwest in 2021 after beginning her teacher education preparation at North Central Missouri College.

“Northwest helped me prepare as a teacher in many ways – getting hands-on experience in classrooms, amazing support from instructors and having small class sizes,” she said. 

Dill completed her student teaching during the fall of 2023 with the Lee’s Summit R-VII School District. She taught art at Westview Elementary School and then at Lee’s Summit West High School.

Upon graduating from Northwest, Dill gained additional experience as a long-term substitute art teacher at Lee’s Summit West High School and Greenwood Elementary School before securing her full-time teaching position. 

“It’s been full of learning opportunities,” Dill said. “I feel like Northwest did a great job preparing me, but there is only so much they can prepare you for. The rest is just learning through experiences.”

Dill also believes the faculty at Northwest contributed to her success as a first-year teacher. She says she felt encouraged and reassured throughout her time in the art education program.

“I’m still in contact with some of my professors,” Dill said. “They were always there. I could send them an email and they would respond to me right away. I felt like I had unconditional support from them, so I feel like my experience with Northwest was just top tier.”