WESTERLY — It was her excellence, her humility and her talent that prompted St. Pius X Principal Henry Fiore Jr. to nominate Heidi Cozzolino for the 2012 National Catholic Educational Association Distinguished Teacher Award.
“It took me three weeks to convince her,” Fiore said, smiling. “She has a calm and caring demeanor. Never gets frazzled, never raises her voice at all. The kids love her. She makes learning fun. She makes it come to life.”
Well respected by coworkers, parents and students, Cozzolino was honored as one of the top 12 Catholic school teachers in the country and will represent St. Pius X and all of the New England dioceses at a special banquet during the NCEA Boston convention this spring.
Fiore explained that Cozzolino has made an incredible impression on the St. Pius community.
“I could say so much,” he said. “She has impacted us in a very positive and calm way. Everything she does has a spiritual element.”
Cozzolino has been teaching grade 2 and grade 4 German at St. Pius X for the past 11 years, but she feels like she has been teaching her entire life.
“It’s what I do,” she said. “If you want to talk about calling, when I was a little girl, I always played school. It drew me and I had to go with it.”
Born in Bavaria, Cozzolino moved to the United States as a child and grew up in Westerly, but St. Pius X School is where she calls home.
“It’s a wonderful school,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to be any place else.”
For the dedicated educator, there was no question in her mind that she wanted to teach at a Catholic school.
“It’s the spirituality of it. How can I not,” Cozzolino shared. “If I were somewhere else, I would not feel the freedom to acknowledge spirituality that I do here. I could have worked in public school, but I think it would have stifled me. Other people can do it and they are able to separate it, but I can’t. This is who I am.”
By working at a Catholic school, Cozzolino added, you give up some comforts and money, but you gain yourself.
“You can’t put a monetary value on it,” she said. “It’s without price.”
Teaching at Catholic school is far more than a profession, Cozzolino observed, explaining that her students learn some aspect of faith from each of her lessons.
“Faith goes into everything and I want them to look at everything through their faith,” she shared. “I’m always encouraging them to look deeper. I want them to learn that it’s all connected.”
Now, eighth graders, Lydia Crandall and Joseph Brodeur, will not forget the lessons they learned from their beloved teacher.
“In English we would do a lot of stories with her that were so fun to write,” Crandall recalled. “I learned a lot from Mrs. Cozzolino.”
“She really gets the point across, teaching you basic lessons about life,” said Brodeur. “She was definitely one of those teachers that came to your level.”
When Principal Fiore called her into his office to read her award letter, Cozzolino didn’t know how to react.
“It is an honor, but I was definitely shocked,” she said. “You teach and that’s what you do and everyone else does it. I am just a second grade teacher and this school is chock full of excellent teachers.”
No one is more deserving of this award more than Cozzolino, said Bobbie Nelson of Westerly, who works as an aide for the second grade classroom.
“Everybody was so excited. We are so happy for her,” she shared. “She inspires the other teachers. This is a tight knit group. She’s so patient and dedicated. She comes in so early, probably before the sun rises. I think everybody has a nice thing to say about her. She is so kind.”
Being a Catholic educator has given Cozzolino a different perspective, adding that she is always learning something new from her students.
“They teach as much as I teach,” she said. “I learn something from them every day. We are all here because we love the kids and we’re all here because it’s the best place to be. It makes us who we are, and who can hold that back?”
