NORTHFIELD — For nearly a quarter of a century, Carolyn Baskowski has welcomed students into Northfield Elementary School.

The longtime teacher, who is in her 24th year at the school on Main Street and has about 30 years of experience in all, has made it her goal to work with every child who comes through the door and make an impact on their lives.

In those years of work, Baskowski said she has learned an effective approach to teaching is to “be a guide on the side,” and to let her young learners exercise their curiosity and work out their struggles, as those moments often bring big growth.

For her work in developing students’ abilities and her creative approaches to help them succeed, Baskowski has been honored with a 2025 Pioneer Valley Excellence in Teaching Award.

“I was surprised, honored and a bit shocked. It’s been a good lesson for me in some ways because it is helping me to do some reflection on all the years I’ve been here and all the work I have done,” Baskowski said in her classroom. “My whole goal of being a teacher is to make a difference in children’s lives in one way or the other.”

With a background that includes teaching sixth graders, Baskowski said she loves working with fourth graders because at 9 and 10 years old, the kids are about to make that mental transition “between fantasy and reality” and they really start to mature.

“I do like them to just get to know themselves as learners, to be comfortable with making mistakes and understanding that that’s totally fine,” Baskowski said. “I love them because they are just on the brink. They’re still really thirsty for learning and they love to have fun and engage together. And they’re very independent and can think and talk quite deeply about things.”

The award, also known as the Grinspoon Award, has been presented since 2003 thanks to the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation in partnership with the Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation. Baskowski and other winners throughout Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties will be honored at a banquet at The Log Cabin in Holyoke on April 30.

Northfield Elementary School Principal Krissy Schreiber highlighted Baskowski’s compassion and her efforts to build relationships with each student who comes through her door.

“Carolyn is an amazing teacher who cares about all of her students. She gets to know each one, developing each person’s strengths and making connections to their interests in her lessons. Students feel heard and loved in her classroom as they learn each day,” Schreiber said. “Carolyn’s classroom is a place where students think critically, solve problems and collaborate daily. When I think about commitment to students, school and community, I think of Carolyn Baskowski.”

Alongside her everyday teaching duties, Baskowski also organizes one of the school’s biggest community events each year in the annual food drive that benefits the Northfield Food Pantry. The event began in 2014 and sees the students collect hundreds of nonperishable food items that are then delivered across the street to the food pantry.

As she continues to teach the students of Northfield, Baskowski said she is just one of many teachers who help mold the minds of the next generation.

“It’s really just about being a part of that ladder,” she said. “I will never regret it. I can’t picture another job.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.