(Versailles, IN) – A scheduled assembly at South Ripley Jr./Sr. High School with Indiana Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner turned into a surprise for an unsuspecting teacher.
Katie Lanter, a seventh and eighth grade Reading and English/Language Arts teacher at South Ripley Junior High, was presented the prestigious Milken Educator Award – which comes with an unrestricted $25,000 prize.
Jenner and Dr. Jane Foley, the Milken Educator Awards Senior Vice President, delivered remarks before surprising Lanter with the award.
Lanter is the first-ever Milken Educator Award recipient in South Ripley Community School Corporation history and the 70th recipient in the Hoosier State.
She joins a national network of over 3,000 Milken Educators spanning the Awards’ nearly 40-year history as the nation’s preeminent teacher-recognition program.
Hailed as the “Oscars of Teaching,” the Milken Educator Awards inspire educators, students and entire communities to “Celebrate, Elevate and Activate” the K-12 teaching profession and encourage young, capable people to pursue teaching as a career.
More than $75 million in individual financial prizes and more than $145 million have been invested in the Milken Educator Award national network overall.
“An exceptional educator and teacher leader, Katie Lanter consistently discovers new opportunities to help her students and fellow educators reach their full potential at South Ripley Junior High,” said Dr. Jenner. “Mrs. Lanter is laser-focused on using sound data and her own creativity to ensure her students are receiving high-quality instruction that will set them up for success in high school and beyond.”
The Milken Educator Awards celebrate, elevate and activate the American teaching profession and encourage young, capable people to join it.
The Milken Educator Award is not a lifetime achievement honor. Recipients are heralded in early to mid-career for what they have achieved — and for the promise of what they will accomplish given the resources and opportunities earned from the award.
“Katie Lanter is a leader in preparing students for the rigor and excitement of high school,” said Dr. Jane Foley, who received the 1994 Indiana Milken award when she served as a principal in Valparaiso. “From guiding students’ educational journeys to contributing to the excellence of South Ripley Junior High School at large, Katie’s impact has had a ripple effect on all the lives she has touched. Thank you, Katie, for inspiring the love of learning in others and for choosing teaching as a career.”
Through the use of data, Lanter ensures each of her students reach their potential during their middle school years.
Lanter facilitates data analysis discussions among her fellow educators, maximizing their instructional strategies. By making use of interim assessment and state testing data, she maps student and teacher progress on a “data wall” throughout the year.
Lanter is said to be passionate about her students’ success, and designs and offers an eighth-grade creative writing class for high school credit, which allows students to get acclimated to the rigor of high school.
As the junior high’s School Improvement Team Chair, Lanter played a key role in the school’s Cognia accreditation process, STEM certification designation and Project Lead the Way Distinguished Program recognition.
Lanter also serves as a grade-level professional learning community member, mentor teacher and transition team member. As a member of the transition team, Lanter assisted in creating an instructional framework between the South Ripley Junior High School and South Ripley High School buildings and promotes effective strategies which help students successfully transition from middle into high school.
She presented project outcomes and data from this initiative at the Indiana Principals Leadership Institute state seminar.
Lanter gives back to her community through after school tutoring as part of the Raider Accountability Program, arranges fundraisers and assembles gift boxes for deployed service members and sponsors the junior high’s Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) program, where she organizes her school’s Red Ribbon Week and advocates for drug and vaping safety and awareness.
Lanter earned a Bachelor of Science degree in secondary English education with a minor in Classical Culture from Ball State University in 2012.
The Milken Educator Award recipient reaps lifelong benefits
· Recipients have used the $25,000 cash award in diverse ways. Some recipients have spent the funds on their children’s or their own continuing education, financing dream field trips, establishing scholarships, and even adopting children.
· Honorees receive powerful mentorship opportunities for expanded leadership roles that strengthen education practice and policy. Milken Friends Forever (MFF) pairs a new recipient with a veteran Milken Educator mentor; the Expanding MFF Resource and Explorer Program fosters individual veteran Milken Educator partnerships around specific topic areas; and Activating Milken Educators promotes group collaboration in and across states to bring solutions to pressing educational needs.
· The honorees attend an all-expenses-paid Milken Educator Awards Forum in Los Angeles in April 2025, where they will network with their new colleagues as well as veteran Milken Educators and other education leaders about how to broaden their impact on K-12 education.
· Veteran Milken Educators demonstrate a wide range of leadership roles at state, national and international levels.
