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"I'm very fortunate to work in a phenomenal district with really talented teachers."
Those are the words of Mitch Bickman, a social studies teacher in New York's Oceanside School District who recently received an award for his "exceptional contributions to social studies education and his innovative approach to teaching history and civics," per a press release from the Long Island Council for Social Studies.
Bickman, who won the state's Social Studies Supervisor of the Year award last year, helped organize the district's "Week of Celebration of Democracy," which included a mock election for class officers at the high school.
"We had students come up to the library, where they signed in as if they were going through an actual voter poll, received a paper ballot, and voted for their class officers," Bickman says.
"They had obviously a lot of questions for the first time but, we helped them get through the process and they'll be future voters in our country."
Bickman, who has been with the district for 20 years, says his goal is to provide students with "authentic educational experiences and authentic audiences" and advises his colleagues to "take risks, look to try things out even if they might fail, because it's what we want to model with
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Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
Influencing Social Good Through Retail
When Hannah Davis  traveled to China to teach English, she noticed how Chinese workers and farmers were often sporting olive green army-style shoes. Those shoes served as her inspiration to create her own social enterprise, Bangs Shoes.