Rosenow Receives Elder of the Year Honor from Education Association

By Susan Savetwith, Mohican News Reporter

Joan Rosenow, Stockbridge-Munsee/Mohican and Bowler Elementary Teacher, representing the rural Stockbridge-Munsee community and the Wisconsin education community will receive the honor of Elder of the Year from the National Indian Education Association (NIEA).

The award from NIEA is the highest award an elder can get from this national organization representing thousands of members and hundreds of tribes nationwide. NIEA was founded in 1969 and is the largest and oldest Indian education organization in the nation.

Rosenow is a teacher from Bowler Elementary School during the academic year and also is a summer employee Bowman Performance Consulting, LLC. She is involved with education at the local, state, and national levels within Native and non-Native communities.

She was nominated by Nicole Bowman of Bowman Performance Consulting, LLC, Jeff Bowman, Mitchell Bank President and President of the Wisconsin Indian Chamber of Commerce, and received a letter of recommendation from Bill Trautt, former Superintendent of Bowler School District.

"Getting this award is a significant honor; the NIEA Conference is a huge event that shares important information that we all need to know and share," said Rosenow.

Rosenow’s parents were Hazel and Claude Bowman. She was born on May 26, 1941. She has three sons; Rick, Ran, and Russ; and three grandchildren, Crystal, Sheldon, and Risk.

She was born and raised in Morgan, and went to and graduated from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. She worked as an instructional aide at Shawano High School for 17 years and currently works as a 4th – 5th grade split classroom teacher at Bowler Elementary. Rosenow has been teaching at Bowler for 17 years. "I love the classroom, I truly love it," she said.