Brigette Kutschma, an adult literacy instructor at Badger Community Education and Walworth County Literacy Council, has been named Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the Coalition on Adult Basic Education, a national organization dedicated to advancing the field of adult literacy.
Kutschma began volunteering with Walworth County Literacy Council in 2004 where she helps adult learners gain English language skills and prepare for the U.S. Citizenship Exam. Five years ago, she became an instructor at Badger Community Education, also in English language learning. In addition, she works as a paralegal at Soberalski Immigration Law, headquartered in Milwaukee.
“Brigette has built programs through hard work, compassion, and commitment to adult education in her community. She is present in our community and school as an advocate for her students,” Walworth County Literacy Council Executive Director Lilly Barrett said.
Kutschma involves local government and businesses in her program including taking students to the grocery stores and restaurants to complete homework assignments, inviting career speakers, immigration speakers and our mayor into the class and to activities.
For more than 15 years, Kutschma has been an integral part of the WCLC. She was employed as program coordinator and continues to serve as a board member and a volunteer tutor. She assists in fundraising for the council, writing grants and seeking community financial assistance and in recruiting volunteers. In 2008 she initiated and established the Walworth County Jail Literacy program, which to this date has educated more than 400 inmates.
“Beyond their sometimes hardened exterior and beyond the title of their offense, lies an individual who so often wants to change their life but does not know how or where to begin,” Kutschma said. “Education is the key to change for so many of those incarcerated. Education instills esteem and power – power to leave the criminal ways behind them, to stop making excuses, and to create a brighter tomorrow.”
Although she is a native of Wisconsin, immigration has greatly impacted Kutschma’s life, as her immediate family members are naturalized immigrants. She is also fluent in the Spanish language.
In addition, she understands the sacrifices and determination that immigrants embody, through her experience teaching hundreds of students. Kutschma not only accepts the learner’s cultural and ethnic uniqueness, she embraces them and celebrates them by offering culturally specific events as part of their class time. She has gone out of her way to learn other languages in order to help her language learners feel comfortable.
Kutschma is passionate about adult education and creates a student-focused classroom. She sets high expectations for participant success and is constantly reviewing and updating the curriculum to find the best resources available to support her students. She works with a very small budget to create a program and keeps evolving to meet each participant where he or she is at.
In the words of Rafael C., one of her English language learners, “For me Brigette is one of the best English teachers I have had because she always looks for a way to make her class fun. She makes learning much better. She personally helped me sign up for Gateway for my GED. Brigette always cares about the Latino community especially and looks for ways to support and help.”
In addition to her work with adult literacy, Kutschma was elected to the Geneva Lakes YMCA board of directors and is an active volunteer in the schools and community.
Kutschma will receive the 2020 Teacher of the Year Award during the Coalition on Adult Basic Education’s national conference, April 5 to April 8 at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront in Baltimore, Maryland. Kutschma and Lilly Barrett are also invited to Capital Hill Day on April 8 to meet with legislators and talk about the value of adult education.
Walworth County Literacy Council is a non-profit organization that promotes awareness of adult literacy needs and collaborates with the local community in developing and providing instruction in basic literacy skills, English as a second language, citizenship preparation, and GED support. The Jail Literacy Program instructs inmates in reading, writing and math.
Badger Community Education is an entity of Lake Geneva Schools that provides opportunities for all residents to utilize the facilities of the districts for the betterment of the community.
The Coalition on Adult Basic Education represents the field of 55,000 adult educators and provides a variety of services, including professional development through annual, state-of-the-art national conferences, more than 50 webinars annually, and publication of the COABE Journal.
COABE also launched an award-winning national public awareness campaign and an advocacy campaign that has mobilized the field to more than 100,000 connections with legislators since inception in April 2017.
Each year, COABE highlights excellence in the field of adult education by providing competitive, national-level awards valued at $10,000 each, special recognition awards valued at $2,000 each, incentive grants to encourage and promote best practices in the field, and scholarship opportunities, all through special funding provided by The Dollar General Literacy Foundation.
To learn more about COABE’s award program, go to www.coabe.org or email awards@coabe.org.
