GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A West Michigan educator is being honored as a Teacher of the Year by the Braille Institute, an organization located in California.
They named April Makley Teacher of the Year for 2023 after she was nominated by a former student of four years, Julia LaGrand.
Makley works for Kent ISD as a teacher consultant for visually impaired and blind students at districts throughout West Michigan.
She worked with LaGrand at Grand Rapids Christian High School.
As a younger student, LaGrand attended the Braille Institute's annual Braille Challenge competition, where a teacher would be honored each year.
“Every year I've gone and seen the presentations about these fantastic teachers, and I think that every time I found out about the work that the teachers are doing, I was kind of newly inspired and invigorated," LaGrand said Tuesday.
"There's so much great work going on in the education and the advancement of visually impaired and blind students.”
During her high school years, LaGrand would work with Makleythree to four times a week, for her full four-year experience.
"I am just so pleased to be a part of Julia's journey, and all of my other students' journeys,” Makley said.
She prefers the spotlight stay on her students' accomplishments.
“Julia has launched, and is on to her next stage in life.”
Their bond is apparent in person— Julia now looking ahead to her next stage in life.
“I will be majoring in violin performance, and I am pursuing a career as a musician and sort of disability advocate and journalist," she said Tuesday.
She will attend the New England Conservatory of Music in the fall, hoping to utilize her own life experiences in widening her creative foot print on the world.
"I'm really passionate about creating programming that investigates sort of the role that disability has traditionally played, and can play In classical music. Disability can be an incredible force of creativity, and so I think looking at how classical music can better incorporate that is a super exciting space to be in.“