UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Charlotte Buskill, a 2016 graduate of the College of Education at Penn State, was recently honored with the $25,000 Kentucky Milken Educator Award.

Buskill, who holds a Bachelor of Science in early childhood education (K-4) from Penn State and a master’s in literacy education from Western Kentucky University, has taught third grade for the past seven years at Newton Parrish Elementary School in Owensboro Public Schools in Kentucky.

She was surprised with the news during a recent assembly at her school.

“When I actually went into the assembly, there were tons of people there,” Buskill said. “There were cameras. The Kentucky Department of Education commissioner was there. The lieutenant governor was there so there were bodyguards, so we were like ‘Oh my goodness, what’s going on?’ Honestly, genuinely I had no idea what was going on.

“The Milken Educator representative started talking about education and how teachers are these awesome entities that really push our education forward in this country and her words were really sweet,” she continued. “Then when she said somebody was winning an award, I thought ‘Oh, wow, this is really cool. There are so many amazing teachers in our building. Anyone can be the recipient right now.’ When she said my name, I was sitting with my class and I was like ‘Oh, my gosh, what? This is not happening right now!’”

Buskill is among up to 40 elementary educators across the nation who will receive the Milken Educator Award during the 2022-23 school year. Buskill will have the opportunity to join the national Milken Educator Network of more than 2,900 K-12 educators and leaders across the country. In addition to the cash prize, honorees receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the Milken Educator Awards Forum in April 2023 in Los Angeles, California. 

The native of Boiling Springs — a small town about 45 miles south of Harrisburg — comes from a long line of educators, including being one of three sisters in her family to graduate from the College of Education at Penn State. Buskill credits that for helping prepare her for a career in teaching.

“We often say in my family that teaching is the family business because my mom was a teacher, my great-grandma was a teacher and my sisters went to Penn State, the College of Ed, and are educators,” she said. “My mom really just sculpted a lot of my passion. Another part of my story is I’m dyslexic, so I struggled early on with reading. I say it all the time, thank the high heavens my mom was a teacher. She holds a master’s degree in learning disabilities so she identified early on a discrepancy between my thought process and my reading abilities. She knew specifically how to advocate for me and was able to provide me with access to educators who would work with me after school and in the summer.”

She also believes the College of Education faculty and the college’s partnership with the State College Area School District for student teaching gave her the tools needed to succeed in the education field.

“I really feel like Penn State is such quality education,” Buskill said. “Just the professors, how they’re still actively researching their fields. They’re still in tune with what’s actually happening around the country with laws dealing with education, understanding the evolution, how we progress in education.

“I absolutely loved the State College Area School District partnership they had with the College of Ed because I had so many experiences with professors who worked for both the University and as active teachers in the district,” she continued. “That collaboration was key to developing me for the next level of my career. I student taught at Easterly Parkway in State College, and I was there for a full year. It felt like the school district took us in as interns and sculpted us to be as prepared as possible to enter our own classrooms upon graduation.”

Buskill said as a student teacher she was always pushed to do her best, which she said was not only influential to her as a teacher but has prepared her to be a leader as well.

“There was no room for mediocre work,” she said. “It was ‘You’re going to be pushed to your highest capacity to improve your practices. You’re not only going to be an educator, but you’re going to be a leader for other educators.’ And that was shown to me through my internship and from the teachers at Easterly Parkway. I’m still in contact with a few of them and they work so closely with the University professors.”

It has allowed her to make a difference in the lives of her students, a part of teaching that Buskill said makes all the challenges that come with the job worth it.

“Just seeing a student suddenly have their light bulb turn on, where there might have been some tears earlier in the week or earlier in the year of frustration, but suddenly you’ve opened the door where they’re like ‘I get this now! You didn’t give up on me!’” she said. “Those small moments make it all worth it. Teaching is hard and a lot of pressure is on us, but when you’re able to make an impact, it’s just explosive and I feel it doesn’t have to be academic progression. Sometimes, it’s emotional support where you see a child grow and be able to ask for help, or a student to be able to articulate that they’re frustrated. I guess I love seeing them grow in that way.”

As for how she and her husband will use the $25,000 prize, Buskill said she hasn’t really given it much thought.

“It's a huge blessing,” Buskill said. “Honestly, talking to my husband, we thought we’ll wait until we actually see that official check before we decide what we plan on doing with it because I just feel like it’s not real right now, you know? The whole experience was incredible and just being honored in front of my peers was awesome. To think that there’s money attached to that, it’s humbling. Quite honestly, we have no idea.”