He is to come!
May the season of Advent be filled with blessings and joy! Happiest of holidays from The Lewis Award.
Nominate An Exceptional Catholic Educator for The Lewis Award!
There are 836 Catholic educators in the Diocese of Raleigh, and so far 27 teachers representing 18 schools have received the Lewis Award. Who will receive it this year? Accepting nominations now through September 30th!
Click here to nominate your favorite Catholic educator.
The Monsignor Gerald Lawrence Lewis Award was initiated in 1992 to recognize, promote and encourage teaching excellence by honoring outstanding educators in the Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Raleigh. The Excellence in Teaching Award honors superlative classroom teachers, grades K-12, who have illustrated strong commitment to their students, colleagues and schools, and to their family, church and civic communities. The Recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award is an exceptionally skillful, dedicated full-time teacher.
Nomination forms are available September 1st through September 30th.
In Remembrance, Mrs. Marilyn Misa Ferguson
Marilyn Misa Ferguson, the 2000-2001 Recipient of the Monsignor Gerald Lawrence Lewis Award for Excellence in Teaching, passed away on August 6, 2019.
Prior to marrying her high school sweetheart, Bob, in 2010, Mrs. Misa Ferguson taught Third Grade for 23 years at St. Thomas More Catholic School, Chapel Hill. In a note for the Lewis Award 25th Anniversary she wrote that
“my years at St. Thomas More were the most rewarding years of my life and receiving the Lewis Award was the proudest moment of my teaching career. I surely do miss STM and all of the wonderful children with whom I came in contact during all those years.”
At the time of her death she and her husband lived in the Pacific Northwest.
The Monsignor Gerald Lawrence Lewis Award for Excellence in Teaching Endowed by Anne Williams Stahel in January 1992
The Award was initiated by Anne Stahel to give Monsignor Lewis a meaningful expression of her immeasurable gratitude for his unwavering pastoral support and friendship through times of family tragedy and multiple personal losses. As Anne very succinctly puts it “he was marrying, burying and being part of the Stahel and Williams families”, a friendship that spans over 50 years.
The expression of gratitude evolved into an idea for the Award endowment modeled on a class project of Anne’s late husband’s Princeton roommate, Ralph Nader, and his classmates. Identify an unaddressed need and move it forward. Anne embraced the idea, focused on the Diocese of Raleigh and through much discussion realized there was nothing in place to honor exceptional teachers in the Catholic Schools. So began the Monsignor Gerald Lawrence Lewis Award for Excellence in Teaching. Since the first Award was presented on Monsignor’s 60th Birthday in 1992 there have been 28 outstanding educators who have been recipients as well as 9 Lifetime Achievement Awards presented for significant commitment and contribution to Catholic Schools.
Click here to read the full moving story of the Genesis of the Lewis Award
Consider nominating an exceptional teacher who has touched your lives or the lives of your children. The nomination period for the 2019-2020 Lewis Award will begin September 1 and end September 30. Forms will be available on this website.
Congratulations Mrs. Huger
Congratulations to Mrs. Laurie Huger of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in Raleigh, the 2018-2019 Recipient of the Monsignor Gerald Lawrence Lewis Award for Excellence in Teaching. Below are a few photos of Mrs. Huger receiving the news.
