I just love to tell stories about remarkable teachers who have earned recognition for their work in the classroom. One of these is kindergarten teacher Blake Fingalsen of Kansas. Blake has just been named the 2020 Horizon Award Winner by the Kansas State Department of Education. Blake teaches at Rhein Benninghoven Elementary School.

The Horizon Award program is designed to identify and recognize talented first-year educators at both the elementary and secondary levels. Here’s an inspirational video about this remarkable teacher.

First grade teacher Victoria Soto lost her life while protecting her students from gunman Adam Lanza during the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

It is a sad fact that a number of American educators have been put in the unenviable position of protecting their students from active shooters. They are sometimes injured or killed while sheilding their students. One of these teachers was Victoria Soto, a first grade teacher who was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting on Dec. 14, 2012.

Victoria Soto was born on November 4, 1985, in Bridgeport, Connecticut.  In 2003, she graduated from Stratford High School located in Stratford, Connecticut. Following her graduation, she enrolled in Eastern Connecticut State University. There she earned a dual Bachelor’s degree in History and Education, with honors. She also took courses towards her Master’s degree at Southern Connecticut State University.

Once she earned her teaching credentials, Victoria accepted a position as an elementary teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. On December 14, 2013, Victoria was engaged in teaching her first grade class when gunman Adam Lanza burst into the school wielding several weapons and looking for victims. He started shooting. Staff and students heard Lanza discharging his weapons over the school public address system. By the time the gunman made his way to her classroom, Victoria had been able to hide her children in a closet. When confronted by Lanza, Victoria told him the students had been sent to the school gym. But some of the children were too afraid to stay hidden. When they ran from their hiding place, the shooter began to fire at them. In a supreme act of heroism, Victoria threw herself between Lanza and the children. In so doing, she sustained a fatal gunshot wound.

Victoria was only 27 years old when she was killed. Her career spanned five years. The Chalkboard Champion was laid to rest in Union Cemetery Stratford in Fairfield County, Connecticutt.

In 2013, President Barack Obama awarded Victoria a Presidential Citizens Medal posthumously. The medal honors Americans who have performed “exemplary deeds of service” for their country or fellow citizens. The medal is is the government’s second-highest civilian award.

Read more about this amazing educator in this online article entitled “The Teacher as Hero.”

Educator Mallory Rivard, crowned Miss Michigan 2019, teaches first grade in Bay City, in her home state.

There are many fine educators who have earned recognition in fields outside of the classroom. One of these is Mallory Rivard, an elementary school teacher from Michigan who garnered the beauty pageant title of Miss Michigan 2019.

Mallory graduated from Bay City Western High School in Bay City, Saginaw County, Michigan. Following her graduation, she enrolled at Saginaw Valley State University. There she completed a dual Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education in 2017. Currently she is working toward her Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education.

The beauty queen has been teaching first grade at MacGregor Elementary in Bay City, Michigan, for the past two years. “I’ve known I wanted to be a teacher ever since the third grade,” Mallory confessed. “I’m really passionate about educating young people.”

Mallory asserts there is a literacy crisis in Michigan. She declares her goal is to empower parents to ensure that their children develop the tools they need to succeed in school. To achieve this goal, she founded an organization called Raising Readers Academy. “This past year, as Miss Great Lakes Bay, I partnered with the Read Association of Saginaw County and I started a program call the Raising Readers Academy,” Mallory revealed. “It was a 12-week course where I met with parents and their children and we taught them strategies on how to best support their students. For example, we taught them how to blend letters together,” she continued. “The tools that we gave these kids will last them a lifetime,” she concluded.

In addition to competing in the Miss Michigan pageant, and then the Miss America pageant in December, Mallory has been involved in many other fascinating activities. She has taught in India, completed a year of service as an AmeriCorps member, and performed in the 2008 Olympics.

To read more about Miss Michigan 2019, click on this link: Mallory Rivard.

Fourth grade teacher Bobbie Schamens of Sparta, Wisconsin, was named one of three Teachers of the Year by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) named three stellar educators as their Teachers of the Year for 2018-2019. One of these is Bobbie Schamens. She is a fourth grade teacher at Meadowview Intermediate School in Sparta, Wisconsin.

Bobbie earned the recognition as the result of her efforts to recognize the service and sacrifice of her home town’s military families. As the spouse of a retired Air Force veteran, Bobbie is in a unique position to understand military families. The honored educator strives to teach her students civic responsibility, patriotism, and flag etiquette. She leads her class in field trips to the state capital to experience history and government first hand. She has created a military tribute case as a tribute to honor military and veteran families. In addition, Bobbie organizes cards and care packages to be mailed to military personnel serving overseas.

This amazing educator has been teaching for 16 years, the last six at Meadowview. She topped 54 other teachers nationwide to earn the national distinction of VFW Smart-Maher Citizen Education Elementary Teacher of the Year. “It’s a very humbling experience,” declared Bobbie. “It’s taking the opportunities that you’re presented every day and using those to teach children about kindness, respect, our veterans, and what they do,” she said.

Each year, the VFW names one elementary, one intermediate, and one high school teacher for their National Citizenship Education Teacher Award. Kevin Wagner, an Advanced Placement History teacher at Carlisle High School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, garnered the high school honors. Anne Martin was named the middle school honoree. Anne is a seventh grade Language Arts and Social Studies teacher at Williams Middle School in Tracy, California.

To read more about this years VFW Teachers of the Year, click on this link: VFW.