Norwin teacher recognized for community involvement

Norwin High School’s show choir director has been recognized as one of the people in the Pittsburgh region who has made a difference in her community.

Bridget Faulk has been named one of 22 Pittsburgh ChangeMakers in this fall’s class by the non-profit Multiplying Good, formerly known as the Jefferson Awards Foundation. She is part of a class that features representatives from business, education, labor, finance and nonprofits.

“I’m humbled and grateful to be recognized. There are hundreds of students that I’ve worked with over the years, without which the award would not have been possible,” Faulk said.

In being recognzed by Multiplying Good, Faulk joins impressive company, because in the past 50 years, the Jefferson Awards Foundation and Multiplying Good have recognized a host of national public figures for their outstanding contributions to the nation and their communities. Among those previous awardees were actor Harry Belafonte, media star Oprah Winfrey, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, former Pitt football star Larry Fitzgerald and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Since coming to Norwin in 2011, Faulk has focused on service learning at the core of the choral program, mainly with the Norwin Show Choir.

She is on the board of the non-profit Expressions in Harmony Foundation, which helps children through music. The Hearth Shelter was started in 1998 by her predecessor, Cheryl Walter, and they established the foundation in 2011, Faulk said. The Norwin Show Choir members do most of the fundraising, as well as raise money for the Hearth Shelter and for other children in need in the Pittsburgh area.

She was nominated by one of her former students, Elizabeth Zapaneta, a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon, said Jodi Klibeck, a spokesperson for Multiplying Good. Falk was one of more than 30 people who were nominated and were able to participate in the training program in the fall, said Jodi Klibeck, a spokeswoman for Multiplying Good.

“She is such an outstanding candidate,” Klibeck said.

Pittsburgh Changemakers, like Faulk, commit to raising $2,500 in support of local Students In Action teams so that Multiplying Good can continue to grow, Klibeck said.

“Our goal in the Greater Pittsburgh area is to cultivate the next generation of our region’s servant leaders known as Pittsburgh ChangeMakers, a diverse group of professionals in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who have demonstrated a commitment to service and the potential to truly move our region and state forward,” Klibeck said.

During the course of about three months, the ChangeMakers join in a series of networking, volunteer, fundraising, recognition and other events. The ChangeMakers will work individually and as a cohort to raise money for Students In Action Pittsburgh, Multiplying Good’s youth leadership development program that focuses on service-learning to prepare students for their futures, Klibeck said.

The Norwin Show Choir, which has about 40 members, will be involved in the Students In Action program, with about 10 students participating in leadership conferences, Faulk said. The Students in Action provides project-based service learning catered to the specific needs of youth that provides not just career readiness and critical thinking skills, but also individual agency and empathy, Klibeck said.

“It (Pittsburgh Changemakers) inspires other people. Others see if they are doing good, I could as well. The kids have someone to look up to,” Klibeck said.