We would like to congratulate Audra Yocum who has been selected as the state winner for the Utah ACTE New Teacher of the Year award. Audra is currently completing her third year as a Computer Science (CS)/Informational Technology (IT) teacher at Pleasant Grove High School. Audra has been instrumental in helping grow the CS program in Alpine School District.
Audra is the adviser to the Sterling Scholar program at PGHS as well as an assistant FBLA advisor. She recently accepted an adjunct position to teach INFO 1120 at UVU, and she is the President Elect for UACTE-IT.
Although Audra is fairly new in her career, she understands the need to keep her skills relevant in the CS world. She has taken courses and earned endorsements in AP CS Principles, CS Level 2, Exploring CS, AP Mobile CS and Linux. She recently attended the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education Conference in Ohio to bring those skills back to our students.
For the past two years, Audra has worked with the Code to Success foundation to help offer a 9-week summer coding camp for students. The first year she facilitated the Beta Code to Success program at PGHS. This past year she served as the Lead Teacher/Communication Liaison between Alpine School District and Code to Success, as well as facilitating at her school.
In addition to her competence, Audra is kind, approachable and always willing to learn what she needs to help her students learn at high levels. We are fortunate to have Audra as a CTE teacher in our district and so proud of her many accomplishments.