“Memorable Teacher” Bruce Collamore (center) leading a camping trip for students of Kent Denver, including recent Baylor SOE graduate Caroline Reid (far left), then in the eighth grade.
One teacher was honored at the annual Baylor University School of Education Senior Recognition Banquet on May 14, held online this year. Following tradition, Baylor School of Education seniors had the opportunity to nominate teachers who had been influential in their lives. Students submitted nomination essays about their teachers, and the awarded educator was chosen by a Baylor faculty committee.
This year, Bruce Collamore of Centennial, Colorado, an eighth-grade math teacher at Kent Denver School in Englewood, Colorado, was honored with the Baylor School of Education’s “Most Memorable Teacher” award. Collamore has been a teacher for 43 years, 36 of them at Kent Denver.
Collamore was nominated by Caroline Reid, a Kent Denver graduate of 2016 who just graduated from Baylor with a BSEd in Elementary Education. Reid took Mr. Collamore’s math class as an eighth grader at Kent Denver School. In her nomination essay, Reid admitted that when she started school at Kent, she was not prepared for the level of math expected from her, and therefore began to doubt her own abilities. It was Collamore’s class that changed her perspective.
“When he taught me, he made math into something I felt smart at by first making me feel like a smart and capable student,” Reid said.
In his free time, Collamore tutors economically disadvantaged students at His Love Fellowship Church.
Reid said, “I had the absolute pleasure of working with him and his wife years later on Wednesday nights at an outreach program for moms and their children. It was here that I saw his gift for reaching every child – no matter his or her circumstances – really come to life.”
Upon receiving the award, Collamore said, “It is truly an honor and a privilege to be able to work with young people and help guide them on their journey through the middle-school world. Hopefully, through pouring into their lives, they will feel comfortable having more in-depth conversations about life.”
Reid continues to hold on to the impact Collamore has had on her life, especially as she launches her own career as a teacher.
“I might not remember every math skill I learned in that class (sorry, Mr. Collamore), but I will never forget the way in which Mr. Collamore took me from a struggling student, too clouded by her own personal feelings of not being good enough, to a student who felt confident in herself and her abilities,” Reid said.
Collamore said that his advice to new teachers such as Reid is to love and connect with each student. Also, he said, “Preserve the life-work balance; learn to say ‘no’ when asked to do a million things related to your job; and take care of yourself emotionally, spiritually, and physically.”
—by Katie Coats
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ABOUT BAYLOR SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
For more than 100 years, Baylor educators have carried the mission and practices of the School of Education to classrooms and beyond as teachers, leaders in K12 and higher education, psychologists, academics/scholars and more. With more than 50 full-time faculty members, the school’s growing research portfolio complements its long-standing commitment to excellence in teaching and student mentoring. Baylor’s undergraduate program in teacher education has earned national distinction for innovative partnerships with local schools that provide future teachers deep clinical preparation, while graduate programs culminating in both the Ed.D. and Ph.D. prepare outstanding leaders, teachers and clinicians through an intentional blend of theory and practice. Visit www.baylor.edu/soe to learn more.
ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 16,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.