Allison Relyea, a resident of Voorheesville and a physical-education teacher at Guilderland High School, was honored last month with the Secondary Physical Education Teacher of the Year Award by the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

The statewide organization has members teaching in all grades and also members studying in college to be teachers.

Relyea has taught physical education and dance at Guilderland High School for 15 years.  She uses the state’s Society of Health and Physical Educators standards, known as SHAPE, for the foundation of her curriculum.

Relyea’s goals for her students are to be physically engaged, knowledgeable, confident, comfortable, and resourceful. Her program for ninth- and 10th-graders is designed around the concepts of group collaboration, teamwork, and personal and social responsibility. High school juniors and seniors in Relyea’s classes further explore individual activity enjoyment, self-awareness, physical literacy, and lifetime fitness opportunities beyond the classroom.

Relyea, according to a biography submitted by the association, has integrated technology into her classes, using Google Chromebooks and the Google Apps for Education platform. Relyea gives her students time to learn, process and “practice with patience,” her biography says.

Relyea had been honored by the association before, as Dance Education Teacher of the Year, and she received Amazing Person awards for the Capital Zone and Secondary Physical Education Section.

Her assistant principal wrote, “Allison’s passion for teaching and her students never wavers. She connects with them in ways others are unable to; she reaches them, motivates them, and inspires them.  She not only has high expectations for them but herself as well. Each day she strives to be better than the day before.”