David Alcox -2017 Teacher of the Year
David Alcox - 2017 Teacher of the Year
Milford High School ~ Milford, New Hampshire
ALA President Mary Ellen Borgelt and Bonnie Mitchell presenting the ALA 2017 High School TOY Award and check to David Alcox
The message David Alcox conveys to his students is that they can graduate from high school, graduate from college and retire from their jobs, but they will never stop being citizens. He is an honored and revered educator imparting knowledge, enthusiasm and dedication to law related education.
David has been teaching for over two decades at Milford High School in Milford, New Hampshire. He led the We the People team from Milford to fourteen state championships in the last seventeen years. In 2013, he was selected as a National Teacher of the Year in Civic Education by the Center for Civic Education. This year he was chosen President of the New Hampshire Council for Social Studies; in this he is responsible for planning the state social studies conference.
He is currently working with the McLane Law Firm in Concord to establish New Hampshire’s first lawyer-mentor program in which lawyers and judges partner with teachers and provide civic education resources during the school year. He is also working with U.S. District Court Judge, the Honorable Landya McCafferty, to implement her “You Be the Judge” program in which students will meet in Concord with lawyers and litigants in actual cases.
As part of the Street Law U.S. Supreme Court Summer Institute for Teachers, he has met Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Elena Kagan and Mrs. Thurgood Marshall.
He has attended arguments before the Court in cases such as Miller v. Alabama concerning whether life sentences without parole for juveniles are constitutional. These experiences have enriched his classroom presentations.
After receiving the ALA Teacher of the Year Award, Mr. Alcox shared the following thoughts, “I am so honored to have been selected as a recipient of the ALA Teacher of the Year. Their vision to encourage civic and legal knowledge in the classroom is something that is essential in our schools today. Their website has wonderful legal resources including scripted mock trial cases that are wonderful ‘action tools’ and can be adapted for any level of any classroom.
The annual banquet was certainly a treat! The Yale Club was an august venue. The morning breakfast was very special. There was also great opportunities to discuss topics with a number of impressive dignitaries from around the country. I encourage anyone who uses any type of law related education to apply for this award. Quite often teachers do so many great things in the classroom with civic education and go unnoticed. This is an opportunity to get recognized for the great work that social studies teachers do.”
David’s dedication to, and involvement in, law-related education has given his students a knowledge of their rights and obligations under the law and has encouraged their ongoing civic engagement.