Nebraska’s Megan Helberg named her state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year.

I enjoy sharing stories about educators who have earned accolades for their innovation in the classroom. One of these is Megan Helberg, an English teacher from Burwell, Nebraska.

Megan grew up on a ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills. She graduated from Loup County Public School in Taylor, a rural district with a PK-12 enrollment of only about 70 students.

Megan earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska. She earned her teaching certificate through the Transition to Teach program at the University of Nebraska, Kearney.

Megan inaugurated her career as an educator at Papillion La Vista Community Schools in the Omaha metro area. Currently, she teaches English and Language Arts to grades 8, 11, and 12 at Burwell Junior/Senior High School in Burwell, Nebraska. She has taught there since 2010.

In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Megan serves as a Burwell Public School Leader in Technology Educator. She also served a stint as a Museum Teacher Fellow in Washington, DC. In 2013, Megan earned a grant from Fund for Teachers. She used the grant money to visit Holocaust sites in Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. She also purchased educational materials for her classroom. “That’s really what started the Holocaust education program at our school,” recalled Megan. For her efforts, the innovative educator was named a Museum Teacher Fellow with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016.

To learn more about this talented educator, follow this link to the online story published by the University of Nebraska, Kearney.