Laura Delehanty, East High School

Family is important to our News 8 Golden Apple Award winner, both at home with her own and at school with her students. We honor Laura Delehanty at Rochester's East High School.

Mrs. Delehanty runs the Teaching and Learning Institute at East. She teaches kids who are interested in becoming teachers. Ninth Grader Ericka Green nominated Mrs. Delehanty. "She's just so joyful all the time. And coming from lunch it's so hectic and she just likes to settle us down and she likes to get joyful and it makes me kind of happy."

We wanted to make Laura happy, so we surprised her with a Golden Apple Award. Ericka says Mrs. Delehanty's classroom is like a family. That's intentional. Laura says "Because I think relationships are the biggest key for our education system today. And I think in all honesty that's what we should be focussing on, not on the standardized tests, not on all the reading and arithmetic. But on making these students want to be here with us to learn together."

"She's very much a mother figure to the kids" says Principal Anibal Soler. "She's also a mentor to many of the kids. She continually pushes them. She follows up on different things outside of the school to continue to have that family type feel in her classroom."

Mrs. Delehanty is committed to city schools. Her husband teaches at East and their kids go to city schools. "We try and model our lives based on our belief system. And so that's what we believe in. We believe in our kids here at East High School. We believe in the city schools and we want our own kids to be raised up in these city schools."

Laura Delehanty is a News 8 Golden Apple Award winner. Please look below to read the letter we got from Ericka nominating her favorite teacher.

Dear News 8,

Mrs. Delehanty is the best teacher anyone could have. I've only been with her for a short time and I already feel like she has an effect on not only me, but the other kids within my class room.

She is so friendly & she pushes us to become a family and to believe in ourselves. I personally look forward to her class each and everyday. She enforces her rules to the fullest. She does a lot of activities with us and it helps us to have fun and learn something new everyday.

I will keep nominating Mrs. Delehanty until she gets a Golden Apple Award because I know she deserves one . 

Sincerely,

Ericka Green,
Ninth Grader East High School