Teacher of the Year goes the distance to make sure all students feel loved

I think it’s fun for kids to see you be silly,” says second grade teacher Colleen Keough, flipping through her phone and laughing at pictures of pep rallies and teacher races and her colleagues in the Hamilton Elementary School Husky mascot costume.

“We’ve played Hungry Hungry Hippos with scooters and laundry baskets. I have the most amazing colleagues who are always up for anything.”

“The kids love (the Husky). The community loves it. We have used it for the Schenectady Christmas parade, other events like the Back-to-School BBQ,” says Jennifer Paley, academic intervention specialist. “All of that just creates a sense of family, a sense of belonging and everybody just seems to rally around that.”

Creating a sense of family and belonging is a recurring theme throughout Keough’s career. Her efforts to revive the Hamilton Elementary Husky mascot are a prime example. Thanksgiving is another one.

Every year Keough makes and serves her students a Thanksgiving dinner that combines traditional fixings with foods from across the globe.

“She asks the kids, ‘What do you celebrate with? What do you have?’” says Paley. “And it might be different from others, but she will make all of those foods. And she sets up all the desks together, like a big long table, with tablecloths and all the food so the kids can all share and talk about their own traditions and experiences around the Thanksgiving table.”

“I wanted them to experience that,” says Keough, noting that eating together as a classroom family is important. “So that even if they didn’t have it at home, or if they did have it at home, we’re still a family too, so we should have Thanksgiving dinner together.”

“I’ve heard some students talk about this is the first time that they’ve really experienced Thanksgiving dinner with that many people,” says Patty Wood, an instructional coach at Hamilton Elementary. “So, full circle, it’s just another way the students are part of Ms. Keough’s family.”

The family environment Keough nurtures is not just reserved for the students in her second grade classroom. Family extends to the entire Hamilton Husky community.

The school does a big pep rally before state ELA testing where the kindergarten through second grade teachers make a hot breakfast for the older students who will be taking the test. And the younger kids all line the hallways cheering on the older kids, clapping and holding signs. “It’s just a really good moment,” says Keough. “The kids are like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to do it. I’m going to pass it.’ So it’s just kind of this way to pump them up and make sure they have a hot breakfast before they start.”

The students at Hamilton Elementary know they have a fierce advocate in Keough for getting what they need and deserve. For several years, the playground outside the school was not complete, and students could not go outside to play.

“The kids would get very upset about it, and so would I,” says Keough. “So I just kept emailing and emailing and emailing and emailing, and even when they said they were working on it, I would just email again and if you didn’t answer me the way I wanted, I would go to the next person.”

Eventually, the playground got finished. “I call it advocating,” she says. “I just think that it is really important that our kids have what they need.”

“She will make sure that she holds others accountable and makes sure that we are not forgotten and that the students are not forgotten,” said Paley. “Anything that a student needs, she will make sure she does whatever she can to get that for them.”

“Colleen Keough personifies a Schenectady educator. An expert in the whole child approach, she makes learning interesting and fun by making it personal to each and every one of her students,” says Michael Silvestri, president of the Schenectady Federation of Teachers.

“Beyond the classroom, Colleen can often be seen working late nights on special events for her students,” says Silvestri. “She is an instructional leader who is always there to lend support to her fellow educators. Every person that has been a student or colleague of hers has been positively affected by her love of the profession.”

Paley notes several families have been impacted by home fires the last couple years. “Colleen is the first to reach out to the parents. ‘What do you need? What can I get for you?’ And she organizes those types of things so we can help the families in our community.”

Every year, Keough and her colleagues will head to student homes in the neighborhoods surrounding the schools and drop off literary treats. “We have bags that say, ‘You’ve been booked!’and we walk through the neighborhood and leave them on their door. Sometimes we knock or sometimes we run away, and it’s just a nice surprise because the kids get this bag full of books. There’s like 10 books in it.”

Those bags also contain fun activities and if the students return the bag, then Keough and her colleagues will sneak back and do it all over again. “We make up chants, echo chants, like ‘I don’t know but I’ve been told, second grade is made of gold!’” To execute those chants, she always has a megaphone handy. “I have many megaphones,” Keough says. “I have a portable one in my car because you don’t know when you’re going to need a megaphone.”

“I think our staff engagement has increased just as much as her classroom engagement, just because of the way she is with people,” says Wood. “You just really want to do more when Colleen’s around.”

Keough had previously turned down being Schenectady Teacher of the Year. But when she saw the nomination letters that students had written for her, she changed her mind and said if she was ever nominated again, she would accept.

“Ms. Keough takes the time to talk to me and calm me down,” reads one of the student letters. “She makes me feel safe, because I know she cares. She cares about everybody at Hamilton.”

Now, she’s the 2025 New York State Teacher of the Year.

“I don’t know if they’ll remember everything we did in second grade,” Keough says. “But I’ll always want them to remember that they are important and they are loved.”