Why Abby Cox ‘shows up’ for Utah teachers

Ask Utah’s first lady Abby Cox why she has invested considerable time and energy into a teacher wellness initiative, and she’ll talk about the more immediate benefit: a teacher who is able to bring their best self to the classroom.

But she also takes a long view. “For me, it’s just a passion to take care of our teachers, to make sure that they are treated like the professionals that are and that they have the resources and tools to stay in their jobs and do them well,” said Cox in an interview in advance of the third annual “ Show Up for Teachers ” conference on July 9.

Some 2,000 Utah educators are expected to attend the educator wellness conference at the Mountain American Expo Center in Sandy. The conference, themed “Thriving Through Connection,” is sponsored by the Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation.

Teachers are surrounded by students from the morning bell sounds until the school day ends, leaving little time or opportunity to connect with their teaching peers and administrators. Even when they are fully engaged with students and their days are full, they can experience isolation, Cox said.

“We want to make sure that the teachers are getting those opportunities to connect with each other as colleagues, connect to the administration, and so that they’re creating an environment within the school that really is about collaboration and connection and lifting each other up,” she said.

After hearing about teachers’ need for connection, it became the impetus for this year’s conference theme, Cox said.

Marisa G. Franco, considered a leading expert in human connection, will deliver the morning keynote address.

Franco, a University of Maryland professor, TED speaker and author of the best-selling book “ Platonic: How The Science of Attachment Can Help You Make — and Keep — Friends ,” has been a featured connection expert for The New York Times, The Telegraph and Vice.

Cox said she and her husband, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, have “a core group of really good friends that we count on, that we laugh with. It’s not transactional,” she said.

They are their friends who look out for them and “we look out for them. We celebrate, we mourn with them, you know, all the things that we do with friendships and how critically important that is. I think we’ve forgotten that, and we’ve gotten away from that (as a society) to the detriment of our mental health,” she said.

Cox said the conference will also provide opportunities for pampering, such as seated massage, but more importantly, it will offer instruction on how to manage a difficult classroom, which will help teachers concentrate on their teaching and curb their stress.

If a teacher has learned techniques that help students learn and connect with one another, the educator’s mental health is going to be so much better “as opposed to going in there and it’s out of control, and ‘I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere. I don’t feel like I’m being successful with these students. I can’t teach them academically because I can’t get in a place of learning, mental health wise,’” she said.

Gala honoring educators

On Monday evening, a separate event to recognize exemplary educators who have made positive impacts on the lives of students and the communities they serve will be held at The Grand America. The second-annual Honors in Education Gala is presented by the Deseret News.

Deseret News Publisher Burke Olsen said Utah’s oldest media organization has a long history of celebrating the academic prowess of the Wasatch Front’s top high school seniors as well as Utah’s top-performing high school athletes with its All-Sports Awards and All-State team selections.

“For a long time, we’ve been great at recognizing young people, whether it’s our Sterling Scholar Program or recognizing athletes. We’re thrilled to be recognizing the teachers who make a difference in the lives of Sterling Scholars and athletes. So in some ways for us, this is overdue,” Olsen said.

Some 25 educators from across the state will be honored, he said. The event is sponsored by the Robert H. and Katharine B. Garff Foundation.

The inaugural gala was well received by the educators who were recognized but also by those in their sphere of influence, Olsen said.

For Olsen, the best part was the look on the faces of the teachers as they were recognized at the gala and also the Show Up for Teachers conference.

“In both places, teachers were just thrilled that somebody was paying attention to them and looking for ways to recognize and enrich their lives,” he said.

Olsen said he was so moved by the educators’ enthusiasm and gratitude that he wrote to a teacher who had made a difference in his life.

“He was aware of me being the publisher of the Deseret News and had followed my career. It was so gratifying to know that not only did he remember my name, but he was interested in me today, like he was when I was in high school,” Olsen said.