Delaware teacher reaches Top 10 in Global Teacher Prize
WILMINGTON, Delaware (WPVI) -- "I always tell my students the importance of thinking globally, but acting locally," said Melissa Tracy.
The educator from Wilmington, Delaware, understands the importance of addressing food insecurity.
Growing up in California, she spent about four years living in a motel with her parents. As an educator, she experienced the lifestyles of students in India, Poland, and Thailand. And in 2005, while living in New Orleans, she was displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
All of these experiences inspired Tracy to teach tenants of global citizenship in her classroom. Now, she is a teacher at Odyssey Charter School in Wilmington.
Tracy was inspired by the school's outdoor garden to create an indoor space where students could grow in more ways than one.
And grow, it did.
"I retrofitted a traditional classroom, started to turn it into a hydroponic lab," she said. "And so, what started with a couple hundred greens in the classroom has now expanded to about 6,000 greens every month."
Now, students can get hands-on in Food Studies courses and produce food items that are donated to local organizations for people in need.
All of Tracy's inspiring work garnered the attention of the Global Teacher Prize, which highlights educators in countries around the world. She originally was placed in the top 50 and recently learned she made it to the top 10.
She is, in fact, the only teacher from the United States of America remaining in the top 10.
"It's very humbling, especially when you view the profiles of the other educators who are just doing remarkable work around the country," said Tracy.
Tracy will attend the awards ceremony in Paris, France, on Wednesday, November 8. Even if she doesn't win the $1 million grand prize, she is hopeful that her message will reach other educators and students in Delaware and around the world.
"My hope is that I will empower the next generation of change agents," she said, "Students who come up with a big sustainable plant that is going to help feed our ever growing global population."
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