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Marley Horn’s love of coaching soccer was her first foray into working with children, but it was her work in a bilingual elementary classroom that sealed her fate and love for teaching. 

Horn grew up in Fort Collins, playing and coaching soccer from an early age. She was coaching soccer as an undergraduate at CU Boulder when she decided to change her major to Elementary Education program with an Endorsement in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education in the School of Education. Now she is one of two outstanding graduates for the program. 

Horn described her student teaching placement in a bilingual first grade classroom in Denver as one of the greatest experiences in her time at CU Boulder. That experience has helped her secure a teaching position at Ellis Elementary School in Denver Public Schools next year.

“Every single one of my students has helped me to become not only a better teacher but a better person,” Horn said. “They will always hold a special place in my heart and everything that they, and my amazing Mentor Teacher, Megan Westmore, have taught me this year I will carry with me into the next chapters of my life.”

Horn exemplifies the power of advocacy for bilingual learners and communities. She is a vocal advocate for bilingual children recognizing and building on the cultural and linguistic resources that children bring to school. 

“Marley is also an astutely critical educator who sees and challenges racism and systems of oppression in schools and society through her work as a teacher,” her nominators said. “She stands out for her preparedness and initiative as a beginning teacher and for her accountability to the community where she teaches