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Elem teacher Vickie Wright selected 2026 Texas State Teacher of the Year
Elementary school teacher Vickie Wright of Webster, Texas, has been selected the 2026 Texas State Teacher of the Year. Photo credit:Clear Creek Independent School District
There are many outstanding educators working in our nation’s public schools who are deserving of special recognition. One of them is Vickie Wright, who has been selected as the 2026 Teacher of the Year by the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA), the organization that facilitates the annual Texas State Teacher of the Year program.
Vickie teaches English/Language Arts and Social Studies to fifth graders at Margaret S. McWhirter Elementary School located in the Clear Creek Independent School District in Webster, Texas. The facility is a public professional development lab school.
In her classroom, the honored teacher develops curriculum that uses inquiry-based learning. But she also focuses on building relationships and prioritizing social-emotional development. Vickie emphasizes “reaching a student’s heart before their mind.” She is well-respected by both colleagues and students for her kindness and high-energy teaching style.
Vickie serves as a grade-level instructional coach at her school. She also leads extracurricular activities such as student council, and mentoring on her campus. And she volunteers with her sorority and the Clear Creek Education Foundation. Vickie has been a presenter at Illinois Reading Council conferences and she has led advanced training at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Vickie earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education and her Master’s degree in Reading, both from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. In addition, she has completed the requirements for certification in Educational Leadership from Concordia, and she is National Board Certified. Furthermore, she is a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, a prestigious professional development organization for women educators. Her career as a teacher spans 14 years.
To learn more about Vickie Wright, click on this link to an article about her published by Clear Creek Independent School District.
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CA Physical Education and Dance educator Christina Hofstetter nominated for 2025-2026 LifeChanger of the Year Award
High school Physical Education and Dance teacher Christina Hofstetter has been named one of 74 nominees for the 2025-2026 LifeChanger of the Year Award. Photo credit: National Life Group
I am always excited to share the news that a hardworking educator has earned accolades for the work they do in public school classrooms, especially one who works in my home town. Today, I get to share the news that Christina Hofstetter, a teacher in Chino Hills, California, has been named one of 74 nominees for the 2025-2026 LifeChanger of the Year Award distributed by the National Life Group.
The prestigious award recognizes educators who exemplify excellence, leadership, and positive influence in their school community. The winner of the award will garner a $20,000 grand prize, to be shared with the school, and several smaller prizes.
Christina teaches Physical Education and Dance at Ruben S. Ayala High School in Chino Hills, her high school alma mater. She has taught at the school since 2013. In her dance courses, she empowers students to take ownership of their learning by encouraging them to choose their own dance styles, concepts, and music. One of Christina’s crowning achievements is an annual Spring Dance Concert, where her students showcase their own performances, choreography, and direction. The event is so popular that more that 250 dancers participate each year.
“I hope that I give them inspiration to continue dancing and not be afraid of dancing,” declares Christina. “I hope that they find…that when they look back at the dance program [they] think of it as a safe space, a place that they could truly be themselves,” she continues.
In addition, this amazing educator serves as the advisor for several on-campus clubs, including the Find Kind Club, which recently organized a prom for special-needs students. She also serves as the Chair of the Performing Arts Department, mentors colleagues, works on the master schedule, and co-ordinates professional development.
To learn more about Christina Hofstetter, click on this link to an article about her published on the website of the National Life Group.
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CO teacher Shana Engel earns prestigious Milken Educator Award
Colorado elementary teacher Shana Engel has garnered a prestigious Milken Educator Award for 2025-2026. Photo credit; La Voz Colorado
It is always my pleasure to share the story of a talented educator who has earned recognition for her work in the classroom. One of these is Shana Engel, an elementary school school teacher from Colorado who has garnered a prestigious Milken Educator Award for 2025-2026. She is one of only 30 educators to be so honored this year.
Shana teaches mathematics to sixth graders at Mountain Vista Community School, a public school located in Colorado Springs.
Shana is very active on her campus. She organizes opportunities for students to engage with math through the school’s STEM Club, Robotics Club, and Math Tutoring club. And she also encourages parents to volunteer in her classrooms.
In addition to her work with her students, Shana serves on her school’s math committee, and she has been named both the sixth-grade team lead and the middle school math lead. As if all that were not enough, she mentors beginning teachers through the University of Colorado Springs. And she leads professional development on such topics as student engagement strategies and math reasoning.
The daughter of a US serviceman and a homemaker from Korea, Shana says she decided to become an educator when she was a teenager. “I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was a student at Mesa Ridge High School in Colorado Springs,” she reveals. “We had an elementary education elective class at school, which allowed us to visit the surrounding elementary schools and volunteer. I loved being in the school environment as someone the students looked up to and sought help from,” she continues.
Shana earned a Bachelor’s degree in History with an Elementary Education endorsement from University of California, Colorado Springs, in 2012.
The Milken Educator Awards have been described by Teacher Magazine as the “Oscars of Teaching.” In addition to the $25,000 cash prize and public recognition, the award includes membership in the National Milken Educator Network, a group of more than 2,700 exemplary teachers, principals, and specialists from all over the country whose work strengthens best practices in education. To learn more, click on Milken Educator Awards.
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Olympic champion Samantha Livingstone was also a teacher and coach
Samantha Arsenault Livingstone earned an Olympic Gold Medal in 2000. She later went on to teach science and coach swimming in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Photo credit: Samantha Livingstone
Oftentimes exceptional athletes become educators and/or coaches in our nation’s pubic schools. This is certainly true of Samantha Arsenault Livingstone, an Olympic Gold Medal winner who went on to teach and coach in Georgia.
Samantha was born on Oct. 11, 1981, in Peabody, Massachusetts. Her prowess as a student athlete became evident even when she was a young child. When she graduated from Gardner High School in 1999, her coaches recognized her potential as an Olympic athlete. By then, she had won several individual state championship titles, and she was instrumental in helping her school garner two consecutive Massachusetts State team championships.
By the time she was 18, Samantha realized her potential when she qualified to compete in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. At these games she and her team members helped set a new Olympic record in the 4 x 200 meter freestyle, winning Gold Medals in the process.
After she returned home from the Olympics, Samantha enrolled at the University of Michigan, where she joined the swimming and diving team. In her sophomore year of college, she transferred to the University of Georgia, and she became a member of the swimming and diving team at that school, too.
Samantha earned both her Bachelor’s degree and her Master’s degree in Science Education from the University of Georgia. In addition, she is certified as a facilitator of Mindful Sports Performance Enhancement and is also trained in STARR (Stress + Trauma Activate, Release + Rewire) protocols.
After earning her degrees, Samantha accepted a position as a science teacher at Norcross High School in Gwinnett County, Georgia. She taught there for six years, from 2005 to 2011. She also coached swimming for two local organizations, Gwinnett County Summer programs and Swim Atlanta.
In 2016, Samantha founded Livingstone High Performance and the Whole athlete Initiative (WAI), an organization dedicated to building mental health support systems for individual athletes and athletic teams. Learn more about this by clicking on this link: WAI.
Over the course of her career as an athlete, Samantha has earned many accolades. She was named the NCAA Georgia Woman of the Year in 2005, and received the NCAA Top VIII Award the same year. She garnered the Joel Eves Award at the University of Georgia for obtaining the highest GPA for all the athletes in her graduating class, and was voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-America 1st Team. In 2018 she was inducted into the Greenfield, Massachussets’ Bay State Games Hall of Fame in recognition for her lifetime of sports achievements as a participant in their annual sporting event.
