Third grade teacher Lynette Stant of the Salt River Reservation named 2020 Arizona Teacher of the Year. (Photo credit: Allen Patrou of Raising Arizona Kids Magazine.)

I love to tell stories about talented educators who have earned accolades for their dedication and hard work in the classroom. One of these is Lynette Stant, a third grade teacher from Arizona who has been named her sate’s 2020 Teacher of the Year. She is the first Native American teacher to earn the top educator honor in Arizona, according to the Arizona Educational Foundation.

Lynette, a Navajo, is a member of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. She was raised in Tuba City on the Navajo Reservation. Both her parents attended Federal boarding schools. “It is not a secret that education of Native peoples is one drenched in historical trauma,” Lynette asserts. “As a Navajo woman, teaching in a Native American school, teaching Native American students, my goal is to change that narrative,” she declares. Lynette believes passionately that schools should be a reflection of a student’s culture and family.

The honored educator teaches third grade at Salt River Elementary School. The school was established as Salt River Day School in 1934. The facility was built by Phoenix Indian School students and funded by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Currently, Salt River offers grades K-6, as well as a FACE Program, an early childhood and parental involvement literacy program. The school is controlled by the tribe and funded by a grant from the Bureau of Indian Education. Enrollment is approximately 380.

To read more about Lynette, see this article printed by Raising Arizona Kids.