The Golden Apple Awards honor those shaping student success and our region’s future through excellence in education.

Eight award recipients will be recognized April 22 at the Golden Apple Awards event, and will also be featured in stories in the Press Times each week leading up to the event.

This week, get to know Golden Apple Award recipient Dan Albrent.

Dan Albrent

After growing up in Eau Claire and attending college in Madison, Dan Albrent has been a science teacher at Ashwaubenon High School for the last 15 years.
“I did not know what I wanted to do when I was in college but I knew I loved science,” he said. “I took a Botany course and had a teaching assistant that made the class so fun, was so engaging, and just loved getting to know him and he inspired me to teach.”

Albrent hopes to share his love of science with his students, hopefully inspiring that same passion in them.

“I am super passionate about what we are doing each day so that hopefully it rubs off on students,” he said. “I try to create lessons that are a combination of fun and learning. I want there to be some really cool learning moments but I also want kids to look forward to new lessons because we are always doing something fun and different. I try to get my spring/fall classes outside as much as possible and use the outdoors as a teacher and classroom for a lot of my soil/water/forestry topics.”

Albrent said he draws support and inspiration from the teachers around him.

“I think almost everyone that I have worked with in my science department has been a role model for me in some way,” he said. “Whether it was my initial mentors in Shana Fisher or Dan Newel who were so patient and had to answer way too many questions as a first year teacher or Brack, Mischelle, Lynn, John, Kevin or Joelle who are always so helpful and willing to give advice and support in anything that I have done. It has honestly been an awesome group to work with and I would not be recognized for this award without their contributions and support.”

And that feeling of support is something Albrent hopes he can provide for his students.

“I want students to know that I truly care about their wellbeing and their future. I want them to be as successful as a person as they can be and that I am always here for them,” he said. “I want them to know that I try my best to make my classroom as inviting and friendly as possible and that they leave knowing just a little more about the world everyday.”