{"id":105969,"date":"2025-12-17T13:55:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T13:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=105969"},"modified":"2025-12-17T19:58:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T19:58:07","slug":"uri-alumnus-receives-prestigious-milken-educator-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2025\/12\/uri-alumnus-receives-prestigious-milken-educator-award\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 alumnus receives prestigious Milken Educator Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Dec. 17, 2025 \u2013 Bristol resident Kyle Spaltholz \u201911 might have one of the best commutes in the state. He regularly catches the sunrise each morning as he crosses the bridge over Mount Hope Bay on his way to work at Portsmouth Middle School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little did he know one day this fall he would receive a prestigious Milken Educator Award<\/a>, recognizing his solution-oriented, student-first approach and enthusiasm for student, family, school and district-wide engagement. The national award also netted Spaltholz a $25,000 cash prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A seventh and eighth grade school counselor, Spaltholz was surprised this fall when Milken Educator Awards\u2019 Jane Foley and Rhode Island Education Commissioner Ang\u00e9lica Infante-Green presented him with the award at an assembly before cheering students, appreciative colleagues, dignitaries and media.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Spaltholz was treated to a surprise assembly to learn of his recognition at Portsmouth MS.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

His recognition was part of a Milken Educator Awards tour honoring 30 recipients nationwide with the prize. Award recipients become part of the national Milken Educator Network, a growing group of more than 3,000 pioneering professionals across diverse roles and disciplines working to shape the future of education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Milken educators have been frequent seminar guest speakers in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Feinstein College of Education and served as keynote speakers at the college\u2019s most-recent Medallion Ceremonies. The college is also collaborating with the Milken Educator Network to offer a Mid-semester Residency Professional Conference at 溏心vlog免费B站 in March 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n

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溏心vlog免费B站 will be hosting the Milken Educator Network for a Mid-semester Residency Professional Conference in March. (溏心vlog免费B站 Photo \/ Nora Lewis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Milken Awards represent the nation\u2019s preeminent teacher recognition program, often hailed as the \u201cOscars of Teaching.\u201d The prize empowers recipients to broaden their impact and encourage capable young people to consider careers in education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spaltholz never needed much prompting to think about education as a career; he was an education major from the get-go at 溏心vlog免费B站.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His enthusiasm for school life shows today in the range of activities and initiatives that are part of his work in Portsmouth, where he champions student involvement on all fronts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u202fIn receiving his award, Spaltholz joins another 溏心vlog免费B站 alumnus who also is a Milken honoree. Emily Rendine, a third grade teacher in East Providence, and a graduate of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s dyslexia certificate program, won the award in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spaltholz recalls the day he was \u201cbasically ambushed\u201d with his award. He said the school was called together for an assembly, but then announced that a lucky teacher was going to be recognized that day. He had no idea that it was him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a little overwhelming,\u201d he says. \u201cThey actually staged a fake celebration for us and then it became a real celebration. I\u2019ve worked there so long, it was really a wonderful surprise and exciting to get that recognition. I feel like the award is also about the work we\u2019re doing as a school and district to do what\u2019s best for the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Path to teaching<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spaltholz cites 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Diane Kern<\/a> as an important influence in his time at the University. \u201cShe was my advisor and is just amazing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While he enjoyed 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s education program, Spaltholz\u2019s time at the University was challenging in other ways. He faced a new set of challenges when his father died unexpectedly, being a full-time student and student teaching while grieving and dealing with loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spaltholz says that 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty supported him along the way. \u201cDiane was a big help,\u201d he says. \u201cI remember sitting in the dining hall late in the evening with her to try to figure a way to get through everything. That is my biggest memory of my 溏心vlog免费B站 experience, dealing with grief but also the support I had there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 溏心vlog免费B站, Spaltholz taught at a charter school in Providence before joining Portsmouth Middle School to teach sixth and seventh grade English, and then was promoted to instruction systems coach. As an instructional teaching leader, Spaltholz worked across subjects in curriculum development and enjoyed working with all of the school\u2019s teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He returned to school to get his master\u2019s in school counseling at Providence College. Now Spaltholz is in his first year in the school counselor role at Portsmouth Middle School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI realized I missed the kids,\u201d Spaltholz says. \u201cIn this post-COVID world, there\u2019s a recognition of the importance of social-emotional learning and the challenges kids face across the country. I love being a school counselor, getting the chance to work with kids at a whole different level, getting students involved in thinking about their future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spaltholz says he\u2019s looking forward to using this opportunity to put a spotlight on helping students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are always challenges in any field,\u201d he remarks, \u201cbut as long as we remember that the kids are the reason we\u2019re doing it, those challenges can be met. Students may not necessarily remember the process of a poem or your lessons on punctuation\u2014but they\u2019ll remember how you made them feel and the environment you helped create at school for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit the Milken Foundation site<\/em><\/a> to see videos of Spaltholz\u2019s surprise award presentation.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Dec. 17, 2025 \u2013 Bristol resident Kyle Spaltholz \u201911 might have one of the best commutes in the state. He regularly catches the sunrise each morning as he crosses the bridge over Mount Hope Bay on his way to work at Portsmouth Middle School. Little did he know one day this fall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":105970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1910,30,1915],"class_list":["post-105969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-alumni","tag-college-of-education","tag-undergraduate"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105969"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106014,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105969\/revisions\/106014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}