Ethel Walker School
Walker’s Language Department Chair and French faculty member Dr. Chris Semk has been selected as a 2021 University of Chicago Outstanding Educator. Dr. Semk was nominated by recent graduate Vané Lois ’21, who is in her first year at the University of Chicago. UChicago gives newly admitted students the opportunity to recognize the educators who have made a difference in their lives.
Read more for an excerpt from Vané’s comments to Dr. Semk:
“To say that you are outstanding is an understatement. To say that you are dedicated to each student who is lucky enough to have you in class is an understatement. To say that I have had the privilege to have been taught by you for the past four years is, you guessed it, an understatement. On the first day of classes, I remember my nervous steps into the classroom, and my catwalk-strut out. My confidence grew in your French classes because of the loving and charismatic atmosphere you helped create. Your interest in each of our lives made it clear that you valued us as learners – people – and not as students there to learn the difference between the accent aigu and the accent grave. You valued our radical imaginations when we compiled detailed stories of Chesterita and Jimmy l’Horloge. On that day, I would have never guessed that it was your first day too … I will cherish the gifts of confidence and fun that you have helped me attain for years to come. I only hope that you are able to touch many more souls like [you] have mine.”
Congratulations!
