Skip to main content

South Jordan Journal

Jordan District Educator Awarded Cluff Award

Apr 24, 2015 07:48PM ● By Aimee L Cook
Pam Su’a has been a teacher in some fashion for 28 years. After teaching in the classroom for over 10 years, Su’a became a Curriculum Consultant for the Jordan School District for Social Studies and Foreign Language.  Su’a was recently awarded the prestigious Cluff Award from BYU for her continued efforts in education excellence. 

“It was such an honor, especially to receive this award from BYU,” said Su’a. “The education department there is really a very prestigious teacher education program so having been awarded this from them is such an honor to me.”

The Cluff Award is named after Benjamin Cluff Jr., the first president of Brigham Young University, and is awarded for Excellence in Education.  The Cluff family donates the funds for the award and presents it to the recipient. 

Su’a graduated from BYU in 1977. Since becoming a Curriculum Consultant her primary focus is now on researching best practices for teachers, district wide testing, and going into the classroom to work with teachers and assisting them with ideas on teaching certain topics. According to Su’a, social studies is the foundation of everything we do.

“Social studies is the way we live our lives, the way we interact with people,” said Su’a. “If we can teach kids how to understand the world, and how to better prepare them to be good citizens, that’s what social studies teachers do.” 

Former Jordan School District Superintendent Barry Newbold credits Su’a with being a well-rounded person who is trustworthy and genuine. 

“Every school district needs to have someone who is aware of what the standards are, what knowledge base needs to be taught, an individual that is well rounded with a personality that you can trust, that they feel safe with sharing in areas that they do well and areas they need help and Pam is the perfect fit for that,” Newbold said in an interview. 

Su’a misses being in the classroom everyday but loves her job now, she enjoys the opportunity to help other teachers teach.  However, she has not ruled out returning to the classroom someday.