{"id":14570,"date":"2025-12-05T08:29:52","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T13:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=14570"},"modified":"2025-12-18T16:12:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T21:12:13","slug":"citywide-teacher-of-the-year-finalist-mary-nazareno-indian-lakes-elementary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/citywide-teacher-of-the-year-finalist-mary-nazareno-indian-lakes-elementary\/","title":{"rendered":"Citywide Teacher of the Year finalist: Mary Nazareno, Indian Lakes Elementary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Indian Lakes Elementary second grade teacher Mary Nazareno is a finalist for VBCPS “Citywide Teacher of the Year.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The citywide Teacher of the Year with her students, principal, superintendent and division administrators.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Indian Lakes Elementary second grade teacher Mary Nazareno is a finalist for citywide Teacher of the Year.<\/p>\n

At the age of 6, Nazareno moved with her family from the Philippines to Virginia Beach, where she attended VBCPS.<\/p>\n

She credited her teachers with inspiring her to become an educator.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir kindness and compassion were unforgettable,\u201d Nazareno said. \u201cThey understood the challenges of immigrating to a new country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nazareno graduated from the Mathematics and Science Academy at Ocean Lakes High School and earned an undergraduate degree in psychology and a Master of Teaching in elementary education from the University of Virginia.<\/p>\n

She is currently grade-level chair, serves on the Principal\u2019s Advisory Committee and is one of the school\u2019s community engagement liaisons.<\/p>\n

Since 2019, she has taught a variety of student populations in second and third grade, including inclusion, gifted cluster and English language learners.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation brings people together from different backgrounds and walks of life to learn and grow together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Indian Lakes Elementary second grade teacher Mary Nazareno regularly engages with her second graders in fun learning games.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nazareno believes in building strong relationships with students. She offers a “lunch bunch” reward for students to join her at lunchtime and often attends their extracurricular activities like dance recitals and soccer games.<\/p>\n

Her students become immersed in real-world learning.\u00a0 On “Market Day,” they create a product or service, assuming the roles of both producers and consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery student is engaged because they want to be successful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Gifted resource teacher Elizabeth Samuelsen said her colleague\u2019s versatility as a teacher allows her to successfully meet students\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Nazareno has a strong desire to see all of her students succeed and an eagerness to collaborate with colleagues to see this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samuelsen also commended Nazareno\u2019s efforts to enhance cultural awareness. She regularly exposes students to books featuring diverse characters and serves as co-chair of the \u201cCulture and Climate\u201d committee.<\/p>\n

She has coordinated programs and assemblies as part of Black History Month, Filipino Heritage Month and more.<\/p>\n

This past year Nazareno helped create a school science lab, transforming an empty classroom into a functional space for enhanced science instruction.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of Ms. Nazareno\u2019s hard work, our teachers can now easily access the materials they need to teach science, and our students have a fun and exciting space to experience hands-on learning,\u201d Samuelson said<\/p>\n

Principal Dexter Warren commended Nazareno\u2019s dedication to students\u2019 learning and for leading her team with organization, vision and empathy.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Nazareno consistently steps up to challenges, embraces growth through professional development, leads with dedication by serving as a teacher leader in our building.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Second graders in Mary Nazareno’s class enjoy playing the “Roll and Read” game with their teacher.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Indian Lakes Elementary second grade teacher Mary Nazareno is a finalist for citywide Teacher of the Year. At the age of 6, Nazareno moved with her family from the Philippines […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":14573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,213],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-staff-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14570"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14676,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14570\/revisions\/14676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}