The Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce association has announced its 2011 Excellence in Education Award winners, and two of the three honored educators are Carthage alumni.

Eliot Underhill (M.Ed. '09) has been chosen as RAMAC's 2011 Administrator of the Year. Kim Wendt (B.A. '03, M.Ed. '06) has been chosen as RAMAC's 2011 Teacher of the Year. The Excellence in Education Awards will be presented at a Feb. 23 dinner in Racine.

Eliot Underhill: 'Change can happen'

Mr. Underhill is currently the assistant director of alternative education for the Racine Unified School District, working primarily with the Keith R. Mack Program, an alternative education center for students with credit deficiency and behavioral issues. He received his graduate teaching certification through Carthage's Accelerated Certification for Teachers (ACT) program in 2008. He earned his master's degree in educational leadership from Carthage in 2009, and completed his education administration license in 2010.

"I really enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, the friendships and relationships that I formed with peers, staff and students at Carthage," he said. "It was an awesome experience, and it is and was a program that could be as easy or challenging as one wanted to make it."

He chose to make it a challenge, setting high standards for himself, he said. He now holds those same high standards for his school and the programs it offers. "We are, in many cases, the last chance students get to complete their education," he said. "The Carthage experience has instilled and confirmed in me the notion that by maintaining an optimistic outlook and maintaining hope, change can happen, from individual students to entire programs."

Kim Wendt: 'Empowered' by bringing science to life for her students

Ms. Wendt is an eighth grade science teacher at Mitchell Middle School in Racine, where she funded the renovation of their seventh and eighth grade science classrooms by winning the Pepsi Refresh Challenge, a nationwide grant competition. She graduated from Carthage in 2003 with an undergraduate degree in biology. But after several years in the biology field, she realized she wanted to go into teaching. She completed Carthage's Accelerated Certification for Teachers (ACT) program in 2005, and earned her master's degree in educational leadership in 2006.

"Ironically my time at Carthage caused me to want to go into the sciences, and I actually changed my major from education to biology after my freshman year," Ms. Wendt said. "Dr. Scott Hegrenes and Dr. Elaine Radwanski definitely had an impact on my decision to go into the sciences. They made science come alive." She's now spreading that enthusiasm to her own students. "To be the person who makes science engaging, relevant and fun is empowering."

"It takes the acknowledgement of others you model yourself after to truly realize that what I'm doing is reaching beyond my classroom and affecting more than just my 'Mitchell Family,' " she said of the RAMAC award. "I am both humbled and honored to have achieved this with so much of my teaching career ahead of me. I still have much to accomplish."

Read more about Mr. Underhill.
Read more about Ms. Wendt.
Read about other Carthage alumni making a difference in the classroom.
Learn more about the Carthage Accelerated Certification for Teachers (ACT) program
Learn more about the Carthage Masters of Education (M.Ed.) program.