Teacher to represent state

By Chris Bavender news@currentincarmel.com

A Carmel High School history teacher has been elected as Indiana’s representative for the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year award. The award, which recognizes the pivotal role teachers play in the lives of students, is sponsored by Patricia Behring, widow of the late Kenneth E. Behring, who previously sponsored the National History Day National Contest for many years.

lic-school teacher. He has taught at CHS for 18 years. He first became interested in history while building plastic scale models as a kid.

History

Jason Elrite was nominated in the senior division and was recognized at the National History Day in Indiana State Contest April 22. The national winner will be selected by a committee of experienced teachers and historians and announced June 15 at the NHD National Contest Awards Ceremony in College Park, Md.

“It is an incredible honor to be nominated as Indiana’s candidate for this national award,” Elrite said.

Elrite, 56, is in his 35th year as a pub-

“Every set of directions came with some background knowledge on the tank or airplane I was recreating. Wanting to know more, I started checking out World War II books from my local public library,” Elrite said. “My passion for imparting knowledge to my students is based upon the enjoyment that learning about the past has given me.”

Nominees’ work must illustrate the development and use of creative teaching methods that engage students in history. Elrite said an interdisciplinary class called World Block that he created with CHS social studies teacher Katie Kelly is the basis for his teaching method. The class combines language arts and world history into a single humanities class where students can explore almost any topic of their choosing as long as it connects to a broad annual theme.