After over 15 years serving Lindbergh High School’s students, Spanish teacher Rebecca Gordon-Jones has been awarded the Distinguished Foreign Language Educator Award. This award was presented to her on Oct. 17 by the Foreign Language Association of Missouri (FLAM).

“I am thrilled to be recognized by FLAM and especially by my colleagues who nominated me for this award,” Gordon-Jones said.

The award is described as recognizing “an outstanding Missouri educator who has significantly and positively impacted foreign language teaching and learning.” Gordon-Jones was announced as the winner at FLAM’s annual conference, which was held on Oct. 17-18 at the University of Missouri-Columbia. 

Gordon-Jones says that, since she won the state award, she now has the opportunity to try and win the regional award.

The Lindbergh teacher leads classes full of Spanish students day in and day out. In her role, Gordon-Jones works with AP Spanish students to prepare them for exams, which can help them gain college credit while in high school. She says that she also has native Spanish speakers in her classroom and in the building, and she is always learning from them about the culture behind the language.

But despite her own work in the classroom, Gordon-Jones attributes much of her success in her teaching career to her colleagues within the foreign language department at LHS. 

“It means everything to me to work in the LHS World Language Department,” Gordon-Jones said. “Through this community, I am constantly learning and being challenged to grow in ways that continue to shape my approach to teaching.