LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Maggie Vidal-Santos was nominated by her principal, Scott Saperstein.

Ms. Vidal-Santos has dedicated over 30 years to the success of her students. She believes her students come with different life experiences, interests, and needs as evidenced through the numerous art projects displayed at local, national and international levels. She engages students in problem solving and critical thinking activities, making the subject matter more meaningful. Ms. Vidal-Santos was the 2018 Teacher of the Year at her school, as well as 2018 Florida Middle School Art Teacher of the year, Scholastic Arts National Winner Educator Award, and most recently, the National Southeastern Region Middle Level Art Educator Award at the 2019 National conference.

She was selected as 1 of 24 teachers in the U.S. to participate in the 2013 Fulbright Japan-US Teacher Exchange Program. She developed curricula that she taught at school using sustainable materials that she presented to the community and at local, state, and national teacher conferences.

This teacher continuously finds new and creative ways to engage and teach her students. She collaborates with colleagues, administrators, parents and the community through innovative projects. In 2012, she worked on a four-foot Loggerhead turtle sculpture with her students to be used as public art, which was named “Ruth.” After the tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT, she sent “Ruth” as a gift to help in their healing process. The sculpture remains in Newtown, where it serves as a healing gesture for the entire town.

YouTubeLink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDF4lSRo-IA

In 2015, she initiated and led a sculpture project entitled “Connected to the Core.” The sculpture is an eight-foot apple divided into eight slices. Each school was given a slice to paint representing the students of that school. The sculpture was designed to represent the different components of a successful school: Students are represented by the apple, teachers by the apple core, and pencils represent Community. Together, they stay “Connected to the Core” in their feeder pattern. The completed sculpture represents the 8,000 students that live and learn in the Bay Harbor Islands community.

After the recent tragedy at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, Ms. Vidal-Santos and her students raised money and designed a seven-foot Memorial sculpture of their mascot - an Eagle with its wings wrapped around a heart and seventeen fallen feathers at its base to represent the lives that were lost. The sculpture serves as a healing gesture.

YouTubeLink: https://youtu.be/XOiphIoSYwc

"The passion Ms. Vidal-Santos displays goes beyond the classroom to local, state and global competitions allowing students to express themselves. Her dedicated involvement shows she is a positive role model for them, our school and the community," said Saperstein.