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The Woodridge Award for Great Teachers

The Woodridge Award is presented annually by an accomplished person to the K-12 teacher who most helped them on their way.

Photo by Rogerline Johnson, Johnson Studio, Helena, Arkansas

2024 Woodridge Award

The Woodridge Award is presented by an accomplished person to a teacher who helped them on their way. The Award is named in honor of Mattie Woodridge, who taught high school English in Helena, Arkansas during segregation. After winning her school’s outstanding teacher award four times, Woodridge organized a day to celebrate local teachers. Its success led her to campaign for a national day of recognition for teachers and with the help of Eleanor Roosevelt, National Teacher Day was established.

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Presenter: Dr. Chelsea Clinton

Dr. Chelsea Clinton is a public health expert, author, and advocate, and serves as vice chair of the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Health Access Initiative. She is the author of She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World and (with her mom, Hillary Clinton) The Book of Gutsy Women. She earned a DPhil from the University of Oxford. Dr. Mitchell was her first grade teacher. Photo by Michael Higgins.

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Honoree: Dr. Sadie Mitchell

Dr. Sadie Mitchell worked as a teacher, principal, and deputy superintendent in Little Rock, Arkansas for more than forty years. She received a Principal of the Year Award, a National Reading Recovery Teacher Leader of the Year Award, and the John H. Johnson Award. In retirement, Dr. Mitchell is a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother, and continues to teach on YouTube through her cooking show, Sadie's Kitchen.

Past Winners

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