The nine area classroom educators were honored this month as the 17th annual Stand For Children Day / Teacher of the Year celebration returned to the NyE Communities Coalition’s Activities Center on Saturday.
Nye County School District Superintendent Dale Norton said he’s pleased to see another group of educators get the credit they richly deserve. Eight came from the district and one from a private school.
“It’s always interesting for me to see which ones I actually hired into the district and see all of the great work that all of our teachers do for their students every day in our classrooms,” he said.
Amargosa Valley Middle School science teacher Sher Miller called the recognition “an honor,” while turning the spotlight on her colleagues.
She and her class were busy making what’s known as “Kazoon Kites” on Thursday morning.
“I have a wonderful staff and principal that support and encourage me,” she said. “They collect strange items for our experiments and projects. My main objective is for students to learn every day and to succeed. I’m recognized as the ‘Crazy Science Lady’ among my middle schoolers, and possibly the staff.”
Additionally, Miller said she wants to inspire students to embrace the field of science as they progress throughout their education.
She noted a hands-on approach draws considerable interest inside and outside the classroom, where science scores showed considerable growth each spring.
“We have a garden and garden club where we sell vegetables every Friday,” she said. “I want science to be exciting and for the students to practice the scientific method and to question and observe all the time. I love my job and I love being a science teacher.”
Floyd Elementary School fifth grade teacher Linda Bailey also gave credit to her staff, during her decades-long career.
“I am honored and humbled to have been selected as Floyd Elementary School’s Teacher of the Year,” she said. “It means a lot to have been recognized by such an awesome group of professionals. We are truly a team and they have supported me tremendously over my 40-year career, but it is the students that have inspired me to be the best teacher I can be. They are the reason I do this job, and they are going to be the people I will miss most as I retire.”
During the ceremony, selected students of the teachers talk about their classroom experience with the instructors, followed by a formal introduction.
Each teacher was escorted to the stage for the presentation.
The event is punctuated with entertainment from additional students performing dance, song and musical recitals.
The Pahrump Valley High School Junior ROTC program opened the ceremony with the ‘presentation of colors.’
Norton said for the first time, all Nye County School District teachers winning the honor were invited to Pahrump’s ceremony.
“They reached out and I know Amargosa Valley’s teacher came out,” he said. “There’s a teacher up in the Tonopah attendance area for several years and she is more than deserving of the recognition. We had students singing the praises of these teachers and it reflects upon what our teachers do every day in the classroom. This was just a sprinkling of that.”
Rounding out the field of recognized teachers were Racheal Walker from Community Christian Academy, Hafen Elementary’s Linda Wogee, J.G. Johnson Elementary’s Sherrie Cogburn, Manse Elementary’s Dawn Scronce, Rosemary Clarke Middle School’s Robert Nielson, Pathways Innovative Education’s Sarah Hopkins, and Pahrump Valley High’s Charles Larssen.
Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes