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Leslie Gould gives an impassioned speech to a wildly applauding audience at the Academic Awards Assembly. Photo by Jeanne Hanigan
Leslie Gould Receives Teacher of the Year Award
By Kelsey Hallahan
The Lion Newspaper
May 22, 2010 -- The upstairs A-building hallway teems with devoted Gouldites. Gouldite: someone who fervently reveres Leslie Gould as one of the greatest teachers to ever grace the halls of Bellarmine. Gouldites are a diverse group who share a love of social studies, enunciate the phrase "Schlieffen Plan" with an exclamation point, and have done enough homework IDs to dominate at every history-related category on Jeopardy.
Although the term suggests membership in an ultra-secret society, many of Gould's admirers are fiercely vocal in proclaiming their appreciation of the Harvard-educated academic to the world.
After 20 years of growing support, the legions of Gouldites strongly mobilized this year and made their position known by nominating Gould for a great honor: at the academic awards ceremony on May 19, Gould was presented with the prestigious Elizabeth Kelley Exemplary Teacher Award. This annual award holds up one member of the faculty as a shining example of Bellarmine's core values.
According to the official criteria for the award, "The recipient of the Elizabeth Kelley Exemplary Teacher Award must demonstrate an ability for and commitment to quality classroom instruction, demonstrate a mastery of subject area, and contribute to the Bellarmine community in ways which go beyond the traditional instructional role. The recipient must have an impact on the spiritual, social, intellectual, physical and financial life of the school in general."
Gould teaches Humanities Honors, AP World History, and AP European History, as well as nurtures a freshman community period. She has organized several World AIDS Day services, moderates the altruistic REACH Club, and trains Bellarmine's thriving Knowledge Bowl team. Her Advanced Placement students extol her creative teaching methods and ways of inspiring her students to care deeply about the subject matter.
Also, Gould excels at teaching her students how to understand historical events without the taint of modern perspective. For example, a good 99.5 percent of Americans cannot fathom why so many Germans voted for the Nazi Party in the 1932 parliamentary elections. Most follow the contemporary logic that the Nazis are obviously synonymous with evil... what part of that didn't those Germans understand?
To enlighten her AP European History students, Gould staged a mock election: she assigned half of the class individual 1932 German identities complete with age/gender/experience/ goals. Then she divided the other half of the class into the four major political parties running for seats in the Reichstag. After every political party presented their platforms, the "German citizens" asked the political parties questions about how they would help them.
Devastated by the humiliating Treaty of Versailles and drowning in economic woes, many Germans (both real and in AP European History) found the Nazi promise of economic recovery through rearmament impossible to resist. This lesson in historical objectivity will aid those students for the rest of their academic careers.
After breezing through grueling AP history exams, Gould's students even praise the tough-love grading style that pushed them to so thoroughly study the material. When it comes to knowing the subject material, Gould impresses. Although she humbly insists it isn't true, most people wholeheartedly assume that she knows everything. If a student attended one of her end-of-the-year, pre-AP-exam review sessions, he/she will understand how easily one can make such an assumption.
Unlike many avowed academics, Mrs. Gould exudes a quiet spirituality and dedicates the first few minutes of every class to prayer. Although Gould is not Catholic, she exemplifies Catholic ideals through her actions, and her constant dedication to academic excellence epitomizes Jesuit philosophy. For these reasons, Gouldites and non-Gouldites alike agree: Leslie Gould absolutely, unequivocally deserved to win this year's Elizabeth Kelley Exemplary Teacher Award.
Nomination Excerpts:
"Underneath Mrs. Gould's stoic demeanor, is one of the most caring, supportive educators I have ever had the privilege to meet."
"Dedicated, passionate, brilliant, and humorous are merely a few adjectives that describe the pure awesomeness that is Mrs. Gould."
"In all honesty, Mrs. Gould instills an independent love of the coursework that transcends grade-grubbing and GPA inflation. Everyone strives and studies and learns, but, in the end, you earn what you earn in her classes."
"Mrs. Gould goes above and beyond. Even when her husband was very ill in the hospital, Mrs. Gould came in to class because, in her words, she is 'committed to my classes and I really want my History kids to have the best possible preparation for the upcoming AP test. I can't make any promises, but I will make every effort to be here for you guys.' That is the very definition of dedication."
"Mrs. Gould is a paradigm of intellectual excellence and my personal role model."
Award Background
The Elizabeth Kelley Exemplary Teacher Award was started in 1986 with the goal of recognizing annually the teachers who daily make Bellarmine not only academically powerful, but also personally enriching. Named after a former News Tribune publisher's daughter and grandmother of two Bellarmine alums, Ms. Kelley donated the funding for the award as a way to further excellence in education.
Each year, nomination forms are distributed to students, faculty, parents and anyone else interested. Generally, about 40 forms are returned, each telling glowingly of how a faculty member has changed a life or been an inspiration. Next, a committee is formed to sort through all the forms and choose one faculty member to receive the award. The committee is made up of a school board member, the principal of one of the Catholic grade schools, a previous faculty winner, a student delegate, and a leading community figure.