Schools

Claypit Teacher Wins Johnson Travelship Award

The award is given annually to a Wayland Public School teacher.

Robbin Rossi’s three children will get to see places of their birth this summer thanks to an award their mother, a first grade teacher, has received.

Rossi, a 26-year Wayland Public Schools teacher, Monday afternoon accepted the 2012 Mary L. Johnson Travelship Award during a reception at the Wayland Town Building.

The award is given annually to a Wayland Public Schools teacher who "loves children, respects them and helps them grow beyond themselves." It is awarded in memory of Mary Johnson, a Wayland High School graduate who died in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988. The Johnson family established the Mary L. Johnson Travelship Award with the insurance money received after her death.

“We just thought immediately this was the ideal thing,” said Bob Johnson, Mary Johnson’s father, during Monday’s reception. He said that his daughter had cherished her teachers and educational experience in Wayland and also loved to travel.

“I was amazed about the nature of the award,” Wayland Superintendent Paul Stein said during the ceremony, pointing out that the award is simply given as “a gift” that allows the recipient to take the trip of a lifetime. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an award this special.”

For Rossi, the trip of a lifetime is an opportunity to take her three children, who were all adopted from China, back the their birth country for a chance to see where they are from. The three-week trip will take the family to Beijing, Shanghai, a panda reserve and several other locations.

“I was really shocked – really happy,” Rossi said of learning she had been selected to receive the award.  Rossi’s youngest child, Ying Ying, turns 12 this year, during the Year of the Dragon. Rossi said it feels like the perfect time to take this trip she has wanted to take for many years. “I just feel like it’s meant to be.”

Johnson was quick to point out during the reception that it was Rossi’s colleagues who selected her as the recipient for the award. “We didn’t make the award – your peers did,” he said. “It’s the teachers.”

Claypit Hill School Principal Debbie Bearse said she is grateful to be principal for “such a fabulous teaching staff.”


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