Grace Struiksma

Grace Struiksma realized that she wanted to be a teacher when she was a young child. “I loved school, and when I wasn’t attending school, I would line up my dolls and stuffed animals in front of my chalkboard and teach them what I learned.”

Grace was one of twenty teachers who joined us for our week-long Summer Institute here in D.C. last month. She has been teaching for 24 years, and currently teaches US History, Utah Studies, History Through Cinema, and The World Through Film at Channing Hall IB World School in Draper, Utah.

Her proudest achievement is receiving the KSL Radio Teacher of the Week award because the award was based on a letter written by a student who felt that Grace had made a significant difference in her own life and the lives of other students.

She loves teaching about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights because it’s an opportunity to remind her students that these documents and principles are relevant to their daily lives. “Students need to know,” Grace says, “That we are ‘we the people,’ and it is our duty, honor, and privilege to serve our fellow citizens through government work or simply being an active participant in our democracy.”