The Illinois State Board of Education has selected two District 161 staff members to receive special recognition through the Those Who Excel program.

Honorees are Dana King, a school social worker at Parker Junior High in Flossmoor, and Kelsey Molden, a special education teacher at Serena Hills School in Chicago Heights. 

King is honored in the Student Support Personnel category, and Molden in the Early Career Educator special recognition category open to staff with fewer than five years in the profession.

ISBE has sponsored the Those Who Excel program for 55 years. The awards honor educators who have made significant contributions to public and nonpublic elementary and secondary schools. Winners will be feted at a banquet April 18 in Normal, Illinois.

Kelsey Molden

Kelsey Molden is only in her second year in District 161, yet she took it upon herself to develop a special classroom at Serena Hills so she could help kindergarten and first grade students who need special services. 

Molden said the administrative team’s support “is so special because they put so much trust in me. I think the most special thing is getting to build the relationships with those parents.” She also coordinates with a teacher at Heather Hill School where there is a specially contained classroom and with the district’s special education resource teachers.

Molden remembers being in school and needing special services and sometimes feeling let down.

“Sometimes I didn’t feel like my teachers were my biggest cheerleaders,” she recalled. “I told myself that one day I’m going to be a special ed teacher and I will be my students’ biggest cheerleader and make sure I can support them in the best way I possibly can.”

She earned her special education bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University and finished a master’s degree from Grand Canyon University focusing on autism spectrum disorders.

Molden finds that having this classroom helps her support the student and the parents. 

“It’s like this big loving community family that we get to celebrate every day, and we celebrate these little victories, and I get to love all these little kids and show them what they’re capable of,” she said.

“When I can see an ‘ah-ha’ moment, even if it’s little, or even if they walk away with a smile because not every lesson is going to be like they totally understood that. But if we get a smile and an understanding that shows me that they’re having fun,” Molden said. “It’s also important in school for kids to have fun. They say children learn best from each other and while they’re having fun.”

Dana King

Dana King sees her role as  a social worker at Parker Junior High as being a student advocate.

“I want to be able to help kids solve different problems that they’re facing,” she said. “Being a teacher is great, but kids and young people go through so many things in their lives that are not related to academics.”

King helps them with social/emotional issues, peer pressure, family issues and more. She loves that her job allows her to work at multiple levels. It enables her to become  integrated in the community, from her career as a social worker to volunteering as Parker’s cheerleading coach.

King has been working as a school social worker the past 13 years, eight in District 161. This year, she is working with more than 300 sixth graders who have transitioned from grade school to junior high. It can be overwhelming having to navigate a new building, new classes and making new friends as students from four schools merge into Parker.

She works one-to-one, in small groups and in a classroom setting, depending on student needs.

“I do think kids are absolutely struggling socially and emotionally, but I don’t know if it’s really COVID related. I think kids were struggling socially and emotionally before COVID,” King said. 

“What I have come to note, as years have gone by, is I think the reliance on technology is what really has impacted kids’ social/emotional skills. They don’t know how to problem solve because they don’t really build conversations” when so much of their conversation is online.

King said talking online and speaking to someone face-to-face require different skills. Having the ability to speak and address concerns is an important skill to have, not just for school years but adulthood.

King recalls one mom telling her she is “helping students be good people, and that’s really what it’s all about.”