Lyman Memorial High School English teacher Liza Escott, center, is CEA’s 2013 Susan B. Anthony – Prudence Crandall Equality Award winner. She is pictured above with Lyman seniors Emily Campbell (at left), and Emmarhia Wylie at the school’s diversity fair this April.
The spirit of Susan B. Anthony, a pioneer for the women’s suffrage movement, and Prudence Crandall, an American educator and reformer, is alive and well at Lyman Memorial High School in Lebanon, Connecticut, thanks to English teacher Liza Escott. Escott, the school’s diversity coordinator, is the 2013 recipient of CEA’s Susan B. Anthony-Prudence Crandall Equality Award due to her efforts to promote the elimination of racism and discriminatory attitudes and practices in education, collaborate with groups concerned with human rights, and further an understanding of our multicultural society in a meaningful way.
“I cannot imagine a teacher who has done more to foster equality, to fight racism, and promote multiculturalism than Ms. Liza Escott,” wrote Lebanon Education Association President Kevin Brodie in his essay nominating Escott for the award.
Brodie said that Escott integrated social awareness and community activism into her coursework, and expanded it into a school-wide program after not being satisfied with the culture she witnessed at the school every day. Read more about the diversity fair Escott helped organize at the school this year here.
Escott’s hard work has paid off. According to Brodie, “Incidents of bullying and vandalism have fallen, and participation in extracurricular activities has increased as a percentage of the student population.”
The Reminder News recently featured Escott’s accomplishments. Escott is quoted in the story saying, “I believe that my responsibility is not just to educate my students in English as a subject, but to help mold them into respectful and responsible citizens of the world we live in.”
Escott will receive the Susan B. Anthony-Prudence Crandall Award at the CEA Awards Dinner that takes place August 5 during the CEA Summer Leadership Conference at the Mohegan Sun Conference Center. Register now to attend Summer Leadership and come and celebrate Escott and other CEA award-winning educators.
