CHICOPEE –  After a year filled with remote learning and pandemic stress, one Chicopee resident is giving back to educators within the community. Tammy Proulx has awarded two Chicopee teachers with handmade plaques for their hard work and dedication to students during COVID-19. With such an enthusiastic response from the community, Proulx has decided to award a paraprofessional next.

Proulx is not associated with the schools and works at a local credit union. She has lived in Chicopee for 20 years and is part of a Chicopee forum on Facebook. She said she got the idea to award educators in this way after seeing so many Facebook posts of residents praising them.

“I had seen so many people post some things in regards to teachers doing such a good job remotely and all of their students doing really well, so I just felt that they needed to get some recognition. Since I craft, I just decided to do it. I love the town that I’m in and people support others, so I did it,” said Proulx.

Proulx does wood burning and also makes plaques out of vinyl. She said that this was an old hobby of hers that she reignited a passion for during the pandemic.
“I finally got the time and I did it,” said Proulx.

 Proulx received over 60 comments on her Chicopee forum post asking for teacher nominations. She said that she wrote down all of the names, put them in a glass jar and pulled two winners, given this overwhelming response. The two winners were Seanna Kindness at Belcher School and Peter Soillis at Bellamy School.

 Proulx recently picked a winner for the paraprofessional nominations as well. The winner was Diane Larose at Bowie School. She said that she will be bringing her the plaque as soon as possible. Proulx said she has to call the school, explain what she did and see if she has permission to drop it off due to COVID-19 regulations.

When Kindness received her plaque, Proulx said she was extremely grateful and told her she would hang it up in her classroom.

Now that Proulx has honored both teachers and paraprofessionals, she said she might make another plaque for someone in a service organization. She said it would depend on her free time, but that if she did it she would focus on a police officer, EMT, nurse or someone in the healthcare field.