Mercy Alumna Receives National “Oscars of Teaching” Award

Mercy College alumna Rachel Tommelleo was awarded a Milken Educator Award and $25,000 cash prize. Rachel earned her Master's in Elementary Education from Mercy in 2006.

Tommelleo is the Principal at Center City Public Charter Schools' Brightwood Camps in Washington, D.C., where she creates a strong, positive school culture, ensuring every student has a support system with her "Brightwood Families" program. These inter-grade groups meet every four to six weeks for get-to-know-you activities and service projects, giving older students leadership opportunities to mentor younger students.

The Milken Educator Awards were conceived by the Milken Family Foundation to attract, retain and motivate outstanding talent to the teaching profession. It is the nation's preeminent teacher recognition program, hailed as the "Oscars of Teaching" by Teacher magazine. For more than three decades, the Milken Family Foundation has devoted over $135 million in funding to the Milken Educator Awards, including $68 million in individual Awards to more than 2,700 recipients, plus powerful professional learning and networking opportunities with leading education stakeholders.

Tommelleo is one of up to 40 recipients of the Milken Family Foundation's Award for this school year and is the only educator from D.C. to receive the award.

Photo and video highlights from Tommelleo's receipt of the award can be found here: https://www.milkeneducatorawards.org/educators/view/rachel-tommelleo.