We are proud to announce that Tony Beaumier is the 2024 Henry Scipione award recipient. He has been described as one of York’s best educators. Tony has been a York teacher for almost 40 years and his passion for helping students learn has never dimmed. He has influenced and shaped the minds of countless students. He is calm, purposeful, and persistent. Tony was awarded a YEF grant which brought the Harkness method to York Middle School. The Harkness method is a student-centered teaching style that involves small groups of students sitting around an oval table to discuss topics. This teaching philosophy uses an inclusive teaching method.
Tony also teaches students the larger lessons of life to help them be better human beings. He engages students in reading, learning about the natural world, and getting outside themselves to experience challenges. In the best possible way, Tony is the Mr. Rogers of York Middle School!
Over the years he has led larger projects including directing the long running Shakespeare Festival, supporting his colleagues through the York Teachers Association, and using his own passion for hiking to create an interdisciplinary Appalachian Trail unit.
Tony is always willing to help and, when he takes on a project, will see it all the way through. The York Middle School game room, neglected during the COVID years, got a new life when Tony engaged his advisory students in a fundraising and fix-up project. He patiently supported them through a whole year of planning, fundraising, and cleaning. He arranged the purchase of new materials and the installation of a new carpet. He even walked them through thank-you letters as a wrap up!
Tony is an incredibly deserving teacher for this award. He is a superb representative of the profession of teaching and his legacy cannot be matched. York is very fortunate to have Tony Beaumier as one of our educators.
The award was established in 2012 to honor Superintendent Dr. Henry R. Scipione, to recognize educators who promote and advance excellence in education within the York School Department.