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Lowell Milken Fellow presented with a key to Fort Scott
The third and final recipient of the Lowell Milken Center Fellowship was awarded a key to the city Tuesday morning by the Fort Scott City Commission.
Stephanie Bishop, of Prince George, Va., is in Fort Scott all this week to visit the town and work with staff at the Lowell Milken Center. Bishop is a graduate of Virginia Tech and spent 10 years as a theater teacher at Prince George High School. Since leaving PGHS in 2006, she has been serving as the Assistant Principal of J.E.J. Moore Middle School in Prince George, Va.
This is not Bishop's first time in Fort Scott. She visited in 2006 to critique a performance of "Life in a Jar," the play about Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic woman who saved Jewish children during the Holocaust. Bishop said she was contacted by Lowell Milken Center Executive Director Norm Conard and the Lowell Milken Foundation to help fine-tune the performance because of her theatrical background.
"I just think that the people of Fort Scott are just fantastic," Bishop said. "Last time I was here, it completely changed me for the better."
Helping with the "Life in a Jar" project led to an ongoing relationship, according to Bishop, who said she later went on to help with the project in New York and California.
While teaching theater at Prince George High School, Bishop led her students to three state theater championships in 2002, 2004, and 2006. In addition, several students were selected to attend the prestigious Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.
Bishop is working on a project similar the LMC's flagship project, "Life in a Jar." Bishop, along with her students, is in the beginning stages of putting together a 30-minute production telling the story of unsung heroes from the Little Rock Nine.
The presentation will focus on one or more white students who befriended the black students during the integration of Central High School in 1957. She said the story would bring to light how their lives were changed and what impact their decision had on their families and surroundings.
"We've got a solid beginning," she said. "We have a lot of ideas about where we want to go. We're just having a hard time narrowing the focus because there are so many heroes and so many interesting stories."
Bishop said among the 2,000 students at Central High School, most knew the right thing to do, but few acted on it.
"They are the true heroes of what happened in 1957 at Central High School," she said.
In 2001, Bishop was honored with the prestigious Milken Educator Award. In addition to teaching, Bishop also served as fine arts department chairperson and Summer Fine Arts Academy coordinator at Prince George High School.
In 2006, she earned an endorsement in educational leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University, and in 2007 was co-editor and chapter author for the book, "Be A Teacher." She also worked to involve the entire school community in her program by encouraging faculty participation in productions, coordinating fundraisers with the PTA and spearheading an area arts festival. In addition to her accomplishments in drama, Bishop has developed courses and curricula in women's studies and film.
"Stephanie Bishop is one of the truly great teachers in America, making a difference by using the creative arts. We are proud to have Stephanie as one of our 2011 Fellows," Conard said.
Two weeks ago the city commission presented Richard Meserve and Anna Hull with keys to the city as they were also selected as recipients of the 2011 Lowell Milken Center Fellowship.