Cara Spitzner, a fourth grade teacher at Ogden Avenue School in La Grange, Ill., is a 2017 Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Leadership finalist.

This is Cara’s fourteenth year at Ogden, where she has taught both third and fourth grades and is also involved in the Curriculum Advisory Council and the Committee for Equity and Minority Achievement. An education major at IWU who also holds a master’s degree from Northern Illinois University, Cara resides in Oak Park and volunteers on a Refugee Welcome Team through her synagogue.

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