July 24, 2020
Watch: Michigan Trans Educator Named 'Teacher of the Year'
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 1 MIN.
Owen Bondono has been named Michigan Teacher of the Year, a distinction Bondano believes had never before been granted to a trans educator.
Local news source Patch.com reports that Bondano emerged at the top of a list of ten finalists for the honor. Bondano will now be in the running for National Teacher of the Year.
Bondano spoke to a personal awareness of how LGBTQ youth can suffer in public spaces. Said the English Arts instructor. Detroit Fox News affiliate Channel 2 quoted Bondano as saying:
"My goal is to always make sure students whether they are marginalized because of their race, their ethnicity or their gender identity, their sexual orientation, that they feel safe in school."
Added the top-notch teacher: "I know from a personal standpoint how vulnerable you feel when you're not safe and how when you feel that vulnerable everything else takes a back seat."
Bondano outlined a comprehensive message for the education of students, teachers, and parents alike:
"I want educators to see that it's urgently necessary that we support these students. I want students to see that they are supported and loved and that their future is possible. I want parents of LGBTQ students to see that their children have a future."
Watch the Fox News clip below.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
